A Recipe from Elephant Stew (1980)

About the Recipe

Oh my, where to start with this one… Usually when there’s a marked down corner in a cookbook it means one of two things:

1. I have tried a recipe on this page and it is very good. I need to save this page for later.
2. I have not tried this recipe yet, but it seems like something I want to make.

I don’t know which one this was, but whew boy! This recipe needs some help. It’s a good method of cooking pork chops, but it’s super super super bland. A few recommended swaps from me:

• Marinate the pork chops ahead of browning them. Your favorite barbecue sauce would work well, or even just a good pork rub with some olive oil.
• Season the potatoes and onions. You don’t need much, some salt and pepper will do.
• Ditch the canned soup for some sliced sharp cheddar cheese. If you’re attached to the creamy, processed feel that the soup brings, go for some American cheese slices or Velveeta.

About the Book

Usually when a recipe is such an uninspired dud as this one is, I ditch the book. It goes on my shelf or I give it to a friend who may get better use. But this book is just too adorable to give up on. My version is published in 1980, but I believe there are other years available. It’s a fundraiser book (which does mean that there are bound to be a few winners in here) for the Association for the Study of Childhood Cancer, and many of the recipes come from the Junior Women’s Club of Virginia.

The book is filled with illustrations from children and cute little tips at the bottom of the recipe pages. Check out the hot dog tip above to get a feel for those little gems. I’ll post some more when I cook out of this again. In the meantime, enjoy a few more pages from this delightful book.

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The Recipe!

Ingredients:

4 pork chops
1t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1 med. onion, sliced
4 med. potatoes, peeled and sliced
1 can condensed cheddar cheese soup, undiluted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*. Trim extra fat from chops. Sprinkle chops with salt and pepper and brown well on both sides; drain on paper towels. Place chops in shallow 2-qt. casserole. Arrange onion and potato slices on top. Spoon soup over all. Bake, covered, for 1 hour or until meat and potato are tender. Serves 4.