Pork Chops

Name: Pork Chops
Total time: 40 min
Yield: 3
Ingredients: 2 lb pork (chops, bone in, 3 cm thick); 1 ¼ tsp salt (for the dry brine); 1 tbsp vegetable oil (high smoke point); 2 tbsp butter (for the baste); 3 clove garlic (whole cloves, smashed); 3 sprig thyme (fresh); ½ tsp black pepper (coarse, ground)

Meat & Game · American

7 ingredients · 40 minutes · 3 servings

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662kcal62.2g protein44g fat1.2g carbs~$2.25/ serving*

Contains dairy

Restrictions

ContainsdairyIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Diets

No alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

2 lb	pork (chops, bone in, 3 cm thick)
1 ¼ tsp	salt (for the dry brine)
1 tbsp	vegetable oil (high smoke point)
2 tbsp	butter (for the baste)
3 clove	garlic (whole cloves, smashed)
3 sprig	thyme (fresh)
½ tsp	black pepper (coarse, ground)

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

2 tbsp	apple cider vinegar (to deglaze)
1 unit	apple (sliced, cooked in the pan after)
4 unit	sage (fresh)
1 tsp	mustard (Dijon, stirred into the pan sauce)
⅓ cup	chicken stock (for the pan sauce)

Steps

Brine20 min
salt on all surfaces, uncovered on a rack, refrigerated 20 minutes to overnight
chops + salt. Salt diffuses in and alters the muscle proteins so they retain water under heat rather than wringing it out; uncovered, the surface also dries, which is a precondition for a crust. Twenty minutes helps and overnight is better
Rest15 min
on the counter, patted bone dry
the chops to come toward room temperature, then dried thoroughly with paper. A fridge-cold chop needs so much longer in the pan that the outer centimetre overcooks before the middle arrives. Dry the surface properly — the crust cannot start until the water has gone
Sear6 min
heavy pan, oil just smoking, chops in and NOT moved for 3 minutes a side
oil + chops, pressed down once and left undisturbed until deeply browned, then turned. Browning is the Maillard reaction between amino acids and sugars, and it needs a dry surface above roughly 150°C. It does not seal in juices — that claim is false, and a seared chop loses slightly more moisture, not less. What it buys is flavour, and that is reason enough. Stand them on the fat edge for a minute too
Glaze5 min
heat to medium-low, butter, garlic and thyme, pan tilted, spooning constantly
+ butter + smashed garlic + thyme (+ sage), the foaming butter spooned over the chops repeatedly until the centre reads 63°C. Basting cooks the top from above with hot fat rather than waiting for conduction from below, so the chop finishes faster and more evenly — and the butter carries the garlic and thyme aromatics onto the meat, which a dry pan cannot
Rest8 min
on a warm plate, loosely tented, 5-8 minutes
off the heat. Carryover will take it to about 66°C, so pull at 63°C and not above. While it rests, deglaze the pan (+ vinegar, + stock, + mustard, + apple slices) scraping up the browned residue — that residue is the seared flavour you just built, and leaving it in the pan is throwing away the best part of the dish