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tender braised pork blade chops with irregular broad shoulder-blade bone edges and several uneven muscle sections separated by softened fat seams, partly covered by chunky red tomato sauce with softened green bell pepper, onion and celery pieces in a plain slow-cooker insert
Andre Lewis

Crockpot Creole Pork Chops

Choose well-marbled blade chops from the shoulder end of the loin for this long cook, because very lean center-cut chops won't improve after hours in tomato sauce. Brown them first and let the onion, pepper and celery pick up the pan's flavor before everything goes into the crock. The finished meat should yield readily to a fork. Keep the sauce chunky rather than blending it, and reduce it separately if it looks watery so the tender chops don't have to keep cooking while the liquid catches up.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours 25 minutes
Total Time 6 hours 50 minutes
Servings: 4
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 4 well-marbled bone-in pork blade chops from the shoulder end of the loin 1 inch thick, about 2 1/2 lbs total
  • 1 tbsp neutral oil
  • 3/4 tsp fine salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper
  • 1 medium yellow onion diced
  • 1 green bell pepper seeded and diced
  • 2 celery ribs diced
  • 2 garlic cloves minced
  • 1 can diced tomatoes 15 oz, with juices
  • 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
  • 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1 bay leaf

Method
 

  1. Pat chops dry and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a skillet and brown chops for 2 minutes per side in two batches; transfer to a 6-quart slow cooker.
  2. Cook onion, bell pepper and celery in the skillet for 5 minutes. Add garlic for 30 seconds, then stir in tomatoes, broth, Worcestershire, paprika, thyme, cayenne and bay leaf and scrape up browned bits.
  3. Pour the vegetable mixture over the chops. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours until fork-tender; the pork must be at least 145°F and these marbled blade chops will usually be around 190°F when their connective tissue softens.
  4. Lift chops carefully to a platter and remove the bay leaf. If the sauce is watery, transfer it to a saucepan and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes until lightly thickened.
  5. Let pork rest for at least 3 minutes after lifting, then spoon the hot tomato-pepper sauce around each chop and serve.