The night before serving, place a wire rack on a rimmed baking sheet and lay pork chops on top. In a small bowl, combine salt and sugar and rub evenly over chops. Place, uncovered, in refrigerator.

Preheat oven to 250°F with a rack in the center. Place pan in oven as-is and bake chops until an instant meat thermometer reads 110°F, which should take about 30 minutes. Start checking after 25 minutes. (I need you to trust this process -- don't raise the oven temperature, and don't be tempted to cook the chops past 110° at this stage. It will all work out in the end.)

Heat two tablespoons of the oil in a 12-inch cast iron skillet over high heat. Turn on an exhaust fan — things could get exciting.) When the oil begins to smoke, add two pork chops to the pan. Sear for about one minute on the first side without tinkering — chop should be deep golden-brown. Then flip and sear a minute or so on the other side until beautifully golden. Finally, stack the chops and pick them up with tongs, holding the “fat cap” (the fatty side of the chop) against the bottom of the pan to sear. Remove chops to a plate, pour off used oil (but don't wipe pan), and cook remaining chops two at a time in the same way, starting with fresh oil. (Or use multiple skillets).

To make the sauce, pour the used cooking oil out of the pork chop pan and discard, but don't wipe or wash the pan. You want to keep all those good cooked-on bits. Set the pan over low heat and melt the butter. Add shallot, thyme and sage and cook, stirring, for just a minute until the shallot is tender but not too brown. Stir in flour, raise heat to medium, and cook for a minute or two, until very frothy. Stir in wine and stock (along with any accumulated juices from the chops) and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until thickened to a gravy consistency, about 5 minutes. Off the heat, stir in parsley. Spoon sauce over plated pork chops just before serving.