Half-arsed pork chop preparation! Help!

September 25, 2008 3:20 PM

I have 3 pork chops which have been dipped in garlic butter and then dredged in panko. Can I now pan fry them or shall I bake them?

They're sitting in my kitchen right now. This is the result of some bastardized "little of this, little of that" cooking approach. If I fry them will the breadcrumbs fall off because the only thing holding them on the pork is melted butter? If I cook them in the oven, at what temperature and for how long? Help!

posted by chihiro to food & drink (12 comments total)

Baking them will probably maintain the intgrety of your crust better, but I would put them on an oven safe cooling rack on a cookie sheet. If you put them directly in a dish or on a sheet, the bottom side will get soggy. I'd say 350, but how long depends on how thick they are, what kind of oven you have and how well done you like your pork.

And inch think, medium pork probably 25-30 mins. Thinner = less time.

If you want to fry them, just make sure you start out in a hot pan and sear the crust on.
posted by Kimberly at 3:26 PM on September 25, 2008 [1 favorite]

Thank you! When you mentioned putting them on a cooking rack in a pan, I remembered that I have an Armetale pan that is good for roasting small things in. If I preheated that in the oven and then added the chops, do you think it would help crisp the bottom enough?

I pounded the chops to 1/2" before breading them.
posted by chihiro at 3:28 PM on September 25, 2008

Sear for crisping and then bake is another way to go
posted by poppo at 3:34 PM on September 25, 2008

I think your idea will probably work provided they're not in the oven long enough to release much juice. And it wouldn't be a huge tragedy even if it was a little moist on the bottom. :)
posted by Kimberly at 3:36 PM on September 25, 2008

Oh and for 1/2 inch thick I think check at 15 mins for medium, but probably closer to 20. I live at altitude though, so you may just have to keep an eye on them.
posted by Kimberly at 3:38 PM on September 25, 2008

If you like your meat on the more rare side, then pan frying is DEFINITELY the way to go. You can control the heat more thoroughly and have instantaneous heat control.

There's back and forth on pork and whether or not you should eat it rare.

I say, if it's not chicken... Cook it rare.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 4:37 PM on September 25, 2008

Thanks so much for your help, everyone! I found my roasting rack and cooked it that way. It ended up being more like 30 minutes, but I tend to overcook meat because of our 4-year-old. Even for being well-done, the pork chops were remarkably juicy -- I'll have to dip pork in butter more often!

:-)
posted by chihiro at 5:01 PM on September 25, 2008

you mean you dipped them in melted butter?

and what is panko? some kind of breadcrumb readymade?
posted by mary8nne at 4:59 AM on September 26, 2008

You can't do pork rare... Trichinosis is a danger even when you know the provenance of the pork. Make sure you get it to at least medium. (I wouldn't go the the US Government recommendation of 165F, though. That'll turn the pork into sawdust.)
posted by Citrus at 8:01 AM on September 26, 2008

i am totally coming to your house for dinner.
posted by msconduct at 8:22 AM on September 26, 2008

Panko (パン粉) is a variety of breadcrumb from Japanese cuisine and French cuisine used to create a crunchy coating for fried foods such as tonkatsu. Panko is made from bread without crusts, thus it has a crisper, airier texture than most types of breading found in Western cuisine.
posted by Lizc at 1:44 PM on September 26, 2008

mary8nne, I dipped the chops in 1/4 cup of melted butter to which I'd added 5 cloves of crushed garlic. I tend to overcook pork, and the chops were definitely well-done, but they were not dry at all and had a wonderful hint of garlic about them. I credit the butter bath!

msconduct, next time I make pork chops I'll let you know. ;-)
posted by chihiro at 2:04 PM on September 26, 2008