Pan-seared thick-cut pork chops

 26 January 2022

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2022

A few months ago I tried a new technique for pan-seared beef steak. It turned out to be a game-changer and is now my go-to method for cooking steak. As a result we have steak much more often than before. Here the same technique has been applied to pork chops. Will it have the same effect for pork as it did for beef?

The recipe is for a 1½-inch thick "rib chop" and I was not sure if I would be able to find these. But, lo and behold, in the butcher case at Whole Foods were 1½-inch thick pork chops. They were labelled "loin chops" but I believe they are the same as "rib chops". The chop was seasoned with salt and rested in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. It was then placed in a cold, non-stick skillet. The burner was turned to high, the chop was cooked for 2 minutes then flipped over. After another 2 minutes the heat was reduced to medium. The pork chop was cooked and flipped every 2 minutes until reaching an internal temperature of 140° F.  Total cooking time was 15 minutes followed by a 5 minute rest before serving. 

The pork chop turned out very well indeed. It was well seared and cooked evenly from top to bottom. Despite what seemed like a lot of salt, 1½ teaspoons, it was nicely seasoned. Fortunately I was checking the temperate after each flip because it went from 120° to 150° in just 2 minutes. We only ate half of the 1-pound chop. When having it the second time it was heated in a 130° water batch sous vide which worked well though a lot of liquid was lost and the chop was a little dry. 

This is a cooking method worth using again. Instead of using a high setting for the first two flips it might be better, with our stove, to use a setting of 8 as there was some smoke generated and some scorching of the pork chop, though not so much to affect the flavor. The recipe suggests resting the chops after salting for 1 to 24 hours and this is worth trying as the meat was a little chewy with the 30-minutes rest that I afforded it this time.