Best Pork Chops Ever
Step 1: My “best pork chops ever” recipe starts with high-quality meat. Although, if you’ve been raised on grocery store meats, you might not know the difference. It’s really hard for someone like me who has been raised on farm-fresh meat to get used to eating the carp that passes for meat in most mass retailers. But if you’re like me, you do what you can with what you have. So choose the best boneless pork chops you can afford and go from there.
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Step 3: Use a cast iron skillet, no lid. I swear by my cast iron skillet for frying meat. It’s the next best thing to cooking over an open flame. I like to heat my skillet over high heat until a drop of water tossed into the pan sizzles. Then turn the heat down to about medium to medium high, depending on the thickness of the meat. You want the meat to immediately sear on the outsides as soon as it hits the pan to lock in the juices, but you don’t want it so hot that the outside burns before the insides are cooked through. This can take some trial and error to get it right. Don’t get discouraged if it’s not perfect on your first try. Just keep practicing!
Step 4: Cook your pork chops for about 5 – 8 minutes per side (depending on how thick they are and how well-done you like them) and DO NOT TOUCH THEM until it is time to turn them! This is very important. Don’t get impatient and keep checking the bottoms to see how they’re coming along. Just leave them alone and let them cook in peace. You will know they are ready to turn when the edges on the top side start to turn white. You want to SEE* that they are cooking through the center before you turn them over. This will increase your chances of getting that crispy, crusty, yummy goodness on each and every pork chop instead of leaving it in the pan to go to waste. Most of the time, you will want to cook your pork chops on the second side for an equal amount of time to the first. Once you are certain they have cooked all the way through and have attained the desired crispness, it’s time to pull them out of the pan and eat them!
NOTE: This recipe makes equally delicious beef steaks!
*WARNING: Unlike steak, pork chops are not better with a little red in the middle. Please make sure your chops have turned white all the way through and that the juices run CLEAR before eating them. Otherwise, you run the risk of suffering from some nasty food-borne illness that might turn you off of pork chops for life. No joke!