Make the marinade. Whisk together the buttermilk, salt, pepper, ½ teaspoon garlic powder, ½ teaspoon onion powder, and paprika in a bowl.
Marinade. Add the pork to the bowl with the buttermilk mixture, making sure to coat the meat in the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 2-4 hours.
Make the breading. Whisk together the flour, red pepper flakes, chili powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, and 1 teaspoon garlic powder.
Dredge. Dredge the pork in the flour mixture, making sure to coat each piece thoroughly, and arrange the pieces on a wire rack until you are ready to fry.
Heat the oil. Pour the oil into a skillet (you should have about 1-inch of oil). Heat the oil to 350-360°F (I recommend using a candy thermometer to check the temperature).
Fry. Fry the pork for 8-10 minutes, flipping halfway through. Transfer the fried pork to a plate lined with a paper towel. Be careful not to crowd the pan here folks. If you need to fry the pork in batches, do so. Just be sure to bring the oil back to temperature between batches.
Optional Pork Chop Gravy
Reserve flour. Make sure to reserve the extra seasoned flour that you used to coat the pork chops.
Save drippings. Allow the oil to cool a bit, after frying the pork chops, and then reserve about a tablespoon of oil and fried pork bits and leave in the skillet. (TIP: I will pour the oil in to another dish, and use a mesh strainer to capture the pork bits, and place back in my skillet.)
Add 1 cup broth. Turn the burner to low and pour in one cup of beef broth. Allow this to warm through for a couple of minutes. (You don't want this to be too hot when adding the remaining ingredients, so the cold/cooler broth and flour won't curdle when adding.)
Mix. Next, mix together 4 Tablespoons of the reserved seasoned flour (or new flour if you've ran out), with one cup of beef broth. Whisk this together until blended, and then pour in to the broth that's already warm in the skillet.
Whisk. Whisk this together, turn the heat up to medium, or medium-high heat, whisking constantly until thickened. Pour over cooked pork chops.TIP: Usually, this gravy could still use some salt and pepper since we've added broth. Feel free to add salt and pepper to your taste preference.
Notes
For Oven Baked Pork Chops: Arrange the dredged pork chops in a single layer on a wire rack set above a baking sheet. Bake at 425°F for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through.