Pennsylvania Dutch Pork Chops

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Pork chops are an easy, versatile supper in most Amish farmhouses. Pork chops can be juicy, they can be stuffed, smothered, grilled, barbecued, butterflied, paired with fruit and on and on and on. Imagination and pork chops go hand in hand. My mother used to fix pork chops a lot when I was a kid and they were always a favorite. My parents loved these Pennsylvania Dutch Pork Chops.

There is a distinct difference in how Amish settlements prepare pork chops. In Pennsylvania, there are more elaborate recipes with fruit and jams and mints that are missing in the Amish communities farther west where you're more likely to just find them grilled or baked with a can of soup dumped over them.

Of course, pork chops are a product of "butchering day", that time when Amish and Mennonite families band together to process pork that keeps meat in their freezers for the year ahead. This is an interesting excerpt from the Goessel Mennonite Museum in Kansas:

After the corn was husked came the butchering.  Usually two large hogs and sometimes a beef were included.  It took several days to prepare for the butchering day.  At least four families were asked to help so it had to be planned to suit everyone !  After that, preparations began in earnest.  All the crocks and utensils had to be scrubbed clean, and knives must be sharpened, and chickens or ducks had to be dressed for the dinner.  Zwieback and raisin bread and about 5 or 6 pies had to be baked, to serve for breakfast.

Everyone arrived before dawn.  After breakfast the men would bundle up, take lanterns and slaughter the pigs, one after the other.  The scalding water was carried from an iron kettle set up either outside or in the summer kitchen.  

Amish butchering practices usually call for nice, thick pork chops and then favorite recipes are put to work. This particular Pennsylvania Dutch recipe is distinctive because of the pineapple juice added to the flavor.

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• 🍖 Pennsylvania Dutch Pork Chops
• 📋 Pork Chop Instructions
• 🍖 More Amish Pork Chops Recipes
• 🖨️ Pennsylvania Dutch Pork Chops

🍖 Pennsylvania Dutch Pork Chops

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 6 bone-in pork loin chops (¾ inch thick and 8 ounces each)
• ½ cup unsweetened pineapple juice
• ½ cup ketchup
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1-½ teaspoons ground mustard
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water

📋 Pork Chop Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet, heat butter over medium heat; brown pork chops on both sides. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to an ungreased 13x9-in. baking dish.
2.          Combine pineapple juice, ketchup, vinegar, honey, mustard and salt; add to drippings. Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil. Pour over chops.
3.          Bake, uncovered, until a thermometer reads 145°, 15-20 minutes. Let chops stand 5 minutes before serving.
4. ·        In a small saucepan, combine cornstarch and water; stir in pan juices. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 1-2 minutes. Serve with pork chops.

🍖 More Amish Pork Chops Recipes

Easy Amish Pork Chops

Easiest Pork Chops Ever

Honey Apple Pork Chops

Oven-Barbecued Pork Chops

🖨️ Pennsylvania Dutch Pork Chops