Mom’s Perfect Pork Chops
Sometimes the best food is really the simplest. We experiment frequently with different ways of preparing pork chops, but the way we have pork chops most regularly is with a simple dry rub and pan frying.
Prep Time:
Cook Time:
Total Time:
Ingredients:
| 4 | pork chops |
| 1 teaspoon | bacon fat, grapeseed, coconut oil, or olive oil (or other high smoke point oil) |
| kosher or sea salt | |
| 1 to 2 teaspoon | of dry rub* |
| DAD'S DRY RUB SEASONING: | |
| 1/4 cup | cumin seeds |
| 3 tablespoons | whole black peppercorns |
| 1 tablespoon | coriander seeds |
| 2 tablespoons | sugar |
| 1 1/2 teaspoons | sea salt |
Directions:
1 Heat a large cast iron frying pan to medium high or high heat (hot enough to sear the meat). While the pan is heating, sprinkle a pinch of dry rub spices (about 1/8 teaspoon or a little more) on each of the pork chops. Using your fingers, rub the spices into the meat. Turn the chops over and repeat on the other side.
2 Once the pan is hot, add a teaspoon of oil or fat to the pan and coat the bottom of the pan. Right before you put the chops into the pan sprinkle each side with a little salt, or you can salt the chops in the pan. Put the chops in the pan. Make sure they are not crowding each other too much. There should be space between the chops in the pan or the meat will steam and not sear properly.
Tip: Arrange the chops in the pan with the thickest, boniest parts towards the center of the pan where they get the most heat.
3 Sear the chops, about 2 minutes on each side. Watch carefully, as soon as the chops are browned, flip them. As soon as you flip the chops, if you are using a cast iron pan, you can turn off the heat. Cast iron holds heat very well and there will be enough heat in the pan to finish cooking the meat.
If you have chops that are a lot thicker than 3/4" (many are sold that are 1 1/2"-thick), you can put a cover on the pan and let the chops finish cook for 5 minutes or so (if you are using a cast iron pan and have turned off the heat, there should be enough heat if you cover the pan to finish the cooking of a thicker chop, if not, lower the heat to low and cover.
How do you know when the chops are done? Mom uses a touch test which with practice I've learned as well. If you wait until you see juice oozing out of the top of the chop, it is definitely done. Mom typically just keeps the chops in the pan, the heat is turned off, so the pan is losing heat. The pan initially provides enough heat to sear the second side. As it initially cools it is still cooking, though not searing the meat. After a couple of minutes, it's just keeping the chops warm.
Source: simplyrecipes.com
