Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Step 2

Sprinkle pork chops lightly with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large oven-safe skillet (I use a 12" cast iron skillet) over medium-high heat. Add pork chops and brown both sides. Do not cook completely. If your skillet is not oven-safe, now transfer the browned pork chops to a baking dish.

Step 3

In a medium bowl, fold together bread crumbs, onion, and sage. Combine melted butter with ¼ cup of the water, and pour this over the bread crumbs mixture to create the stuffing. Place a mound of stuffing on top of each pork chop.

Step 4

In another medium bowl, combine cream of mushroom soup, remaining ⅓ cup of water, and soy sauce. Drizzle evenly over each mound of stuffing. Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper over the top.

Step 5

Place skillet in oven and bake for 1½ to 2 hours, or until pork chops are very tender. Bake thinner (½") pork chops for a minimum of 1½ hours, and add time for thicker pork chops. If using especially thick pork chops, I would recommend at least 2 hours of bake time, plus covering the dish for the first 30 minutes in the oven. The goal is to have fork-tender pork chops, and thicker chops will definitely take longer to get tender. I really do not recommend using pork chops that are more than ¾" thick for this dish.