Cooking Our Pork Chops

There are many great ways to cook one of our pork chops, but they all involve the same basic set of steps.

1. Seasoning the meat.
2. A short, high heat cooking period designed to carmelize the outside of the meat creating a beautiful browned appearance and, of course, deliciousness.
3. A lower heat cooking period to finish the interior of the meat to 145 degrees. Unless, of course, the interior of the meat has hit 145 by the time you’ve browned it.
4. A rest period, during which you can finish any sauces using the meat drippings or whatever else you may be up to.

For the purposes of this page, I am going to make a grilled chop finished in a cast iron pan with a Glenhaven Farm Black Currant Table Wine reduction. This is fancier than I usually get, but will show a lot of different techniques. Click on the picture below to see photos of the whole process.

Seasoning: There are many ways of seasoning chops. You can brine them, marinate them or cover them with a dry rub or sauce - BBQ sauce would be a common choice here. I tend to salt them. Hopefully that is all that our chops need.

I like to salt them as much as 24 hours before I grill them, but you can salt them right before they hit the grill. I rub them heavily with salt and pepper, lay them out in a single layer on a cutting board and let them take up the salt in the fridge or just on the counter if they will be grilled within the next few hours. You could make the argument that this is a very simple dry rub.

Caramelization: In this step I like to create high heat to quickly brown both sides of the chop. No matter what method you’re using, you should look the chops over and find the “presentation side”. This is the side of the chop that looks best. The presentation side should always be cooked first - which is to say that the chop should go into the pan presentation side down - and then presented to the eater - which is to say that the chop should be served presentation side up.

Here are several ways to do this - for all of these techniques it is important to watch the chops closely to flip them or turn them down when they’re nicely browned but not burned and to prevent flareups:

• On a grill. A wood or charcoal grill allows you to create a very hot fot that can quickly caramelize meat. You want to avoid the flames and cook over red hot coals. Frankly, I’ve had poor results caramelizing chops on a gas grill, but make sure it’s fully heated up before putting the chops over the hottest part of the fire.
• In a heavy pan or skillet. I prefer cast iron. Heat the pan until it’s quite hot and add the chop to the dry pan presentation side down. If the pan is at the right heat you’ll get a vigorous sizzle. If it’s a harsh hiss, it’s a little too hot. A delayed sizzle means it’s a little cool.
• Under a broiler. Put the broiler on high and wait for it to warm up. Put the chop right near the flame.

In this recipe, I brown the chops over a hot charcoal fire. I have three (that’s how many “seconds” we had) seasoned chops, presentation side up. I’ve got a nice, hot coal fire but no flames. I put the chops over the hot coals and watch until we start to get a nice color on the presentation. I then take a pair of tongs and turn the chops, without flipping them, 90 degrees. This is so that the presentation side has a nice cross-hatch pattern on it from the grill bars. I know, that’s a little over the top. Whatever.

Eventually, I decide that the the presentation side is browned enough and I flip and repeat on the bottom side of the chop. Depending on the temperature of your heat source, this can take as little as 1-2 minutes per side, but usually a little longer.

Finishing: Now the chops look great but need to be brought up to an internal temperature of 145 degrees fahrenheit. This is always done with the chop presentation side up - once the presentation is done, you don’t want to screw it up by continuing to flip the chop. The chop should be flipped exactly once. You simply move the chop to a lower heat area. This can mean turning down the heat under your pot or on your gas grill, moving the meat further from the broiler and turning the broiler down or moving it further from the hot coals. No matter what you do, the meat should be cooked at the equivalent of a gentle simmer.

Always check the meat temperature as soon as you are done browning it. Insert a digital meat thermometer into the center of the thickest part of the chop, near the bone. The problem with non-digital meat thermometers is that they cannot measure the temperature right at the tip of the probe. They sort of give you an average temperature of the first inch of so of the probe, which is fine in a roast but not so good in a chop. If you do not have a digital meat thermometer, you’ll have to guess when the chop is done. One way to know is by poking the meat with your finger until it feels like it’s firmed up. Unfortunately, it’s hard to explain exactly what this feels like. You’ll probably have to cut one open and cook it until the pink in the center just starts to go away.

In this recipe, I move the chop from the charcoal fire to a cast iron pot over a cooler fire so that I can catch the juices for the reduction sauce. I could put some fat into the pan first, but the chop should provide plenty of lubrication on it’s own. Of course, the FIRST thing I do is check the internal temperature. If it’s already 145 or above then I’m done. Hopefully that’s not the case for the sake of my sauce. I probe the temperature of the chops repeatedly until each chop has reached 145 and then quickly pull that chop off, until they’re all done. Thicker chops take longer to get up to heat.

Rest: Once the chops hit 145, I pull them out and let them “rest” for ten minutes or so, during which the temperatures within the chop stabilize somewhat and the meat supposedly reabsorbs the juices. During this period I will make my sauce.

I add a head of chopped garlic to the hot pan and just allow it to sweat for a few minutes. Then I add a 375 ml bottle of Glenhaven Farm Black Currant Table Wine. This wine works great because it has all of the elements that allow it to stand up to the pork - plentiful acidity, a touch of sweetness, ample fruit flavors and balanced tannins. I take a wooden spoon and use to “deglaze” the pan - dissolve all of the drippings from the pan into the wine. Then I simply allow the wine to boil until it’s reduced by half or so. This should thicken it a little. Finally, I taste the sauce and add salt if it’s necessary.

That’s it! OK, I know that’s a lot of details, but if you miss a few of them everything will be fine. The reality is that a lot of the time I salt the chops at the last minute and cook them in a cast iron frying pan with no sauce, which is delicious. Anything in the middle is fine, too. The key point is to enjoy yourself. Today I’m serving the chops with garlic spaghetti and asparagus. Bon Apetit!