I found this on Cooks.com. Is it close to what you're looking for? I also included a link to River Rice. It seems any medium grain white rice would work.

PORK CHOPS AND SOUR CHERRIES
4 thick loin pork chops
1 (#2) can sour cherries
1 c. uncooked rice
1 tbsp. sugar
Grated lemon peel (from 1/2 lemon or 1/2 tsp. dried)
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Salt and pepper
Garlic salt

Brown seasoned pork chops.

Place uncooked rice in bottom of 1 1/2 - 2 quart casserole. Pour on cherries and juice. Sprinkle with sugar, lemon peel and cinnamon. Top with browned pork chops and bake 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees.

May be cooked in crock pot 4 hours on high of 8-10 hours on low. (May have to add a little water.)

Add brownings from pork chops for more flavor or add 1/2 teaspoon salt and bouillon when you add sugar.

Here is a link that might be useful: River Rice

Forgive me for sounding ignorant, but do you have to brown the pork chops if you do the crock pot thing?

And how long does it take to brown a pork chop? My mother used to cook them BLACK due to trichinosis (sp?).

Thanks so much.

:)

No you don't have to brown before putting inthe crock pot...BUT...
Browning pork and beef, really helps develop the flavors.

Browning is simple...little bit of fat in a medium hot pan. (Medium in nonstick, med high in cast iron or stainless.)
Let the pan preheat, pour in some fat, let it just glaze the whole surface of the pan..then put "dry" meat in the pan and don't touch about 2-3 min...at 2 min..see if the meat will lift up..if some sticks, let it stay a 1/2 min to 1 or so more.
Flip and give 2-3 min on the other side..you should have a nice brown "crust" on both sides. If there a lot of browned bits in the pan after you remove the meat..you can add some liquid that the recipe calls for to simmer and scrape up those bits too..MORE FLAVOR!

DRY= can be seasoned, but pat on a paper towel..you don't want it juicy.
FAT= olive oil, veg oil, bacon grease, butter(but only if adding a bit of oil too)

You would definitely brown the chops for the crock pot. It doesn't take long at all. My method is to get a skillet (preferably cast iron) screaming hot. Sear the chops until nice and brown, maybe 3-5 minutes per side. Now you have all of the brown goodness in the skillet. Don't waste it! Deglaze the pan by pouring in the juice from the cherries, scraping up the brown bits. Only takes a minute. Add a little water or wine to bring the liquid up to the volume you had originally, as some will cook off. Proceed with the recipe as written.

This recipe sounds interesting. Let us know how it turns out. I hope Mr. Hungry is happy!

It sounds like you're getting the suggestions you need here, I'll just add that browning not only helps with the flavor, it will seal the juices into the meat, and it makes it look better. Pork and other meat, ground meat, comes out of the crockpot a little gray otherwise and doesn't look like something wonderful you want to put in your mouth ;) It's cooked and safe, just not pretty.

I hope Mr. Hungry enjoys your effort. I'm not a fruit and meat fan myself, the odd man out. Love cherries and pork, but not together - I can't even enjoy pineapple on pizza or my sisters famous raisin sauce for ham.

Just a note -

Olive oil isn't recommended for high-ish temperature cooking, like browning meat. It has the lowest "smoke point" temperature of most household oils, which means it starts to burn soonest. When that happens, an off taste results and the healthful constituent parts of the olive oil are converted away.

To saute, brown, fry or cook with oil at a high temperature, any other vegetable oil is a better choice.

Also get pork chops with the bone in them. The bone adds to a delicious taste due to the marrow. Boneless are almost tasteless and yes to the browning prior to the process.

Before you brown them, rub a little flour on them first. It will keep them much more moist and tender. One of my friends is from up north....I forget now where she said....Wisconsin, I think. She said when her husband offered to cook pork chops for her, he said he was going to fry them. She had never heard of fried pork chops. I said, How do you cook them????

She said she baked them. All I can say is UGH!!! Oh, and she loves fried pork chops now. Now, fried means pan fried....not deep fried. There is a difference.

Great picture of your husband, by the way!

Olive oil is fine on med or med high for 5-6 minutes..

People(certain cultures) have been exclusively using olive oil for browning, searing meat for generations.

It's just recently that "some" have decided it should only be eaten barely heated or "raw"..

If I am browning meat or starting a dish with onions and veg..I use EVOO.
If I am "frying" chicken or potatoes, I use peanut or coconut oil. That means all the way or half way submerging the item.

But for quick cooking..I use EVOO.

Thanks so much.

I'm going to cook this early next week and surprise the hubby!!!

EVOO ... a cry used by a primitive tribe, probably? Non-tropical? No olives? (Few virgins?).

o j

Rosemary..I had to smile when I read your post. I was a cook for 46 years-had 2 of my own places, as did my mom & worked in many area eateries. Old River Rice is the ONLY rice we'd use for our rice pudding-can't tell you how many gallons I've made of it over the years. Old River is a company that hails from the south US-but when I lived in FL the past14 years-you couldn't find it anywhere. I'd 'stock up' each summer here in PA at my local grocery store & take it back to FL. Never had it w/cherries but a restaurant in NYC featured a large pork chop with Plum sauce over rice..it was delish! Your hubs will be surprised, I'm sure.

Olive oil is fine for browning. Use a little butter with the olive oil if frying.

EVOO = Extra Virgin Olive Oil

OJ, don't you watch Rachel Ray? She's always talking about EVOO.

Medium grain white rice is the BEST for soups, side dishes, rice pudding (yummy), and whenever you need sticky rice (sushi, anybody?).

Water Maid is more common brand name in some parts of the country than River Maid, but all you really need to look for is a medium grain rice. It really and truly makes a difference.

Just wanted to give an update, that I am cooking this tonight. Just bought all the ingredients and I'll let you know how it turns out.

:)

I sure hope I don't screw it up!!

Cooking is really not my forte.

This remided me of when I was first married. My father-in-law had been a widower for five years or so and cooked for his three youngest children. My husband was 29 (the oldest of the younger) when we married and I would hear "this isn't the way my father cooked it,"