Happy Homemaker

Battling another cold today, I spent more time than usual in front of the television. I chanced upon a movie, Mona Lisa Smile, starring Julia Roberts. Being a Julia Roberts fan, it sucked me in. I’m somewhat embarrassed to say that if you held my feet to the fire and ordered me to tell you my favorite movie of all time, with a very red face (from embarrassment, not the fire), I would admit that it is Pretty Woman. But I digress.

The movie was about a woman (Roberts) who comes to teach at Wellesley College in 1953 from California. Much to this professor’s chagrin, the young female students, though exceptionally bright, were for all intents and purposes simply biding their time at college, eagerly awaiting their destiny of a ranch-style home and a husband and children. Two hours later, Roberts’ character had taught them that there was more to life than setting a pretty table and having four beautiful children. Cue 50s music and photos of post-WWII housewives as the credits ran. Not a bad movie, by the way.

But seeings as I am full-out nostalgic this week thinking about my mother’s recipes, the movie got me to thinking about my mother’s life as a young woman. She was married by age 21, and had her first child 12 months later. Kaboom. Welcome to life as a homemaker with no grace period. I wonder if she ever thought about a different kind of life, or did all girls in post-WWII just assume their role in life would be as a wife and mother.

And, in the famous words of Jerry Seinfeld, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”

My mother’s life turned out to be a bit different than the typical wife and mother of the 50s and 60s, however. Because she and Dad had their own business, much of her time was required away from home. She made good use of our wonderful grandmother, who often watched us as Mom worked in the bakery. And when my sister was old enough, she cooked breakfast for the rest of us if Mom had to leave for work a bit early. Still, she had a home-cooked meal on the table every night. Like most women, she worked hard.

In 1980, when I had my son, I felt as though the pendulum had swung in the other direction. If a woman had a college degree, people considered it odd if you quit your job to stay home with your children. Perhaps that limitation was self-imposed, but I definitely felt that way. I’m happy that the options are much more plentiful today, or at least they appear to be to these almost-60 eyes. That’s a good thing.

But on to my meal of the day. Breaded pork chops are what my sister Jennifer would have my mom cook for her magical come-back-to-earth-for-a-day meal. And I’m pretty sure that if she were to invite my father, he would be very happy to oblige. He loved them.

As with many of my mom’s meals, she had no recipe for breaded pork chops. So I Googled it, and came up with a recipe from allrecipes.com that seemed close. Most of the recipes I saw called for thick pork chops. Money was never plentiful in my family, though we lived a very comfortable life. But, though my mother was a good cook, she was also an economical cook. The pork chops in her recipe were the inexpensive thin-cut chops. So that’s how we like them.

One final note, my grandmother, and then my mother, always served breaded pork chops with macaroni and cheese made with Swiss cheese. My mother would grate the Swiss cheese and then place it in the cupboard so that our busy little hands wouldn't snitch all of the cheese before she was ready to make the macaroni. In deference to her, I always put my grated cheese in the cupboard until I'm ready for it.

Breaded Pork Chops

Ingredients
4 pork loin chops
2 T all-purpose flour
½ t. salt
½ t. paprika
1/8 t pepper
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 t Worcestershire sauce
½ c dry bread crumbs
1 T vegetable oil

Process

In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, paprika and pepper. In another small bowl, combine egg and Worcestershire sauce. Coat chops with seasoned flour; dip in egg mixture, and coat with crumbs. In large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Brown chops on one side until golden brown (about 4 min); turn and continue cooking for another 4 min. Serve hot.

Nana’s Notes: I am pretty sure there was no Worcestershire sauce or paprika in my mom’s recipe, but I thought it sounded like a nice addition to flavor them up. Also, I would be willing to bet that my mom didn’t dip the chops in flour. I suspect she simply dipped them in egg and bread crumbs. Also, according to my sister who chose this recipe, after the chops were browned, Mom would put a little bit of water in the pan, cover it, and let the chops cook a bit to get more tender. That’s what I did. Finally, we all remembered that Mom would bring home bread crumbs from the bakery that she gathered from the bread slicing machine. No store-bought bread crumbs necessary!