It’s easy to mess up a pork chop, but this one aims to be the end all be all

Time: 30 minutes

Difficulty: 1/5

Ingredient Availability: 5/5

n my mind, the perfect pork chip is juicy, tender, and flavorful. I find that many times when recipe authors claim something is perfect or the best, it misses the mark. This recipe is very simple, but lacks some specificity in the seasonings and amounts, so I think it would be hard for it to come out perfect. Maybe he’s going for the everyone like something different type of perfect.

Key Ingredients and Omissions:

I think the key ingredients here are the pork chop and the seasoning you choose. As far as the pork chop goes, you definitely want a thicker one, probably as thick as you can find at your typical grocery store. The recipe leaves the seasoning up to you. Besides salt and pepper, you can decide to use whatever seasoning you want. Not every seasoning will work, but I used Montreal seasoning. If you use something you like, you’ll increase the chances that this turns out perfect for you. I didn’t skip any of the ingredients.

Tools:

• Pan/Skillet

Cooking Review:

Prep: 3 Minutes

The prep for this recipe was just smashing and peeling the garlic and cutting the lemon in half.

Seasoning: 7 minutes

On top of the base of salt and pepper, I seasoned my pork chops with Montreal seasoning. Because Montreal seasoning has some salt in it, I reduced the amount of kosher salt I added initially.

Searing: 5 minutes

After heating a pan over medium high heat and adding oil to the pan, I added the pork chops and let the first side seat for 5 minutes until decently browned. I didn’t want to keep them on the first side for too long, as to not over cook them.

Finishing and basting: 7 minutes+ 5 minute rest

I flipped the pork chops and let them cook until they reached 135 degrees Fahrenheit, which took about 4 minutes. I then added. The butter, sage, and garlic, basting the chops for about 3 minutes until the chops registered an internal temperature of 145 degrees. I squeezed the lemon on top of the pork chops and removed them to a plate to rest for 5 minutes.

Analysis:

Yeah, these aren’t perfect pork chops. It could just be the quality or pork chops I got, but they weren’t very tender or juicy. Right after resting, the most prominent flavor was the lemon juice. While I do like lemon flavor, it’s not the main thing I want to taste on my pork chops, it’s better as an agent to add brightness in the background in my opinion in this application. The sage flavor is slightly noticeable, but I had a hard time discerning any garlic flavors. I really feel like your outcome will depend greatly on what seasoning you use and how fatty your pork is. The more fat it has, the more flavor and juiciness your pork will likely have. Mine wasn’t particularly well marbled. In all, I wasn’t impressed by this recipe. I think the the recipe gives beginners a good outline on how to cook pork chops in general, but not enough guidance to make something perfect. With that being said, I’ll give this recipe a 6/10. It’s not like it’s inedible, but it’s not something I’d want to come back to either. If you’re looking for a stand out pork chop recipe, I would recommend the Pork Chop Alla Pizzaiola recipe that I analyzed last year. While it takes more time and effort, the result is well worth it.