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Favorite Pork Chops with Sauerkraut

A baked pork chop dish served with sauerkraut and a reduced broth sauce.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and chicken match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,417 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

Favorite Pork Chops with Sauerkraut

Oven350°F (175°C)
Time1½ hours

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Sprinkle each pork chop with sage, salt, and pepper; rub the seasonings into the chops and set aside.

  3. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and pour in ½ cup of chicken broth.

Brown the chops

  1. When the broth begins to boil, add the shallots and garlic and sauté for 30 seconds.

  2. Add the pork chops and a little broth; allow the broth to almost evaporate and brown the chops on one side, about 4–5 minutes.

  3. Add another ½ cup of broth to the skillet and turn the chops; allow the broth to almost evaporate as the chops brown on the other side, about 4–5 minutes.

  4. Remove the chops from the skillet, add the remaining broth and sherry, stir, and scrape the browned bits from the bottom.

  5. Reduce the liquid until slightly thickened, then remove the skillet from the heat.

Bake and serve

  1. Place half of the sauerkraut in the bottom of a casserole dish; sprinkle it with ½ teaspoon caraway seeds.

  2. Place the browned chops on top of the sauerkraut, pour the reduced skillet liquid over each chop, and distribute the remaining sauerkraut over the chops.

  3. Sprinkle the remaining ½ teaspoon caraway seeds over all, cover the casserole, and bake for 1½ hours or until the pork is very tender.

  4. Remove the casserole from the oven, lift the cover carefully, and serve each chop with sauerkraut, drizzling some of the liquid from the casserole over each.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

488Calories
60 gProtein
18 gFat
14 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 12 ingredients. The other 4 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Pork100g cooked242
Chicken100g cooked165
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Sage1 tsp ground (0.7g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Cognacnot in our table0
Brandynot in our table0
Sauerkrautnot in our table0
Caraway Seednot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pork + chickentop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,417 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  2. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Sage + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together731 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pork center loin chops
Provide the meat that browns in the skillet and becomes tender during the long covered bake.
Sauerkraut
Adds moisture and tangy acidity that keeps the chops juicy during baking and balances the richness.
Shallots
Soften and sweeten as they cook, adding mild aromatic flavor to the pan liquid.
Chicken broth
Deglazes the browned bits and forms the flavorful liquid that reduces into the sauce.
Dry sherry
Adds acidity and aroma when added to the pan, helping lift the browned flavor into the sauce.

The step that matters

Brown the chops in small amounts of broth. Browning builds deep flavor through the Maillard reaction, which needs a hot, fairly dry surface. Letting the broth nearly evaporate before turning each chop helps the surface brown rather than steam, and the browned bits then add flavor to the sauce.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sage, pepper, chicken, clove, garlic, sherry):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sage, pepper, chicken, clove, garlic, sherry. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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