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PORK CHOPS - Pork Chops With Pickled Cherry Peppers, Rosemary, and Garlic
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| Skillet-Roasted Boneless Pork Chop With Pickled Cherry Peppers, Rosemary, and Garlic Esquire 9/2011 Skill: Pan-roasting Chef: Mitchell Rosenthal, Town Hall Restaurant, San Francisco Pan-roasting is a quick two-step technique in which the meat is seared in a minimal amount of fat and finishes cooking on the stove (rather than being transferred to the oven). That's the beauty of pan-roasting: It's in front of you the whole time, so you can see whether the pan is smoking (shouldn't be, so turn the heat down) and feel with your fingers whether the chop is firming up nicely. Because pan-roasting works for leaner, boneless cuts of meat that can dry out, brining is frequently a precursor to cooking. As opposed to seasoning the surface of the meat, brining — immersing the chops in what amounts to a seasoned saltwater bath — not only allows the seasoning to penetrate the whole chop, it aids in retaining moisture. Ideally you want the pork to sit in the brine for at least twenty-four hours, but if you plan on pork chops for dinner and only have time to toss them in the brine before you go to work, they'll still be better off. For the brine: | |
| 5 cups | water |
| 1 tbsp | fennel seed, crushed |
| 2 | bay leaves, crumbled |
| 1 tbsp | peppercorns |
| 2 sprigs | rosemary |
| 3 | garlic cloves, peeled and roughly |
| chopped | |
| 6 tbsp | sugar |
| 4 tbsp | coarse salt |
| Place 1 cup of water in a small nonreactive pot and add the fennel, bay leaves, peppercorns, rosemary, and garlic. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat. Cool to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes. Add remaining 4 cups water, sugar, and salt and stir until dissolved and the mixture is well combined. Rinse and pat dry the pork chops and place in a clean bowl. Pour the brine over the chops and place a plate on top to keep the chops submerged. Refrigerate for 24 hours. For the chops: | |
| 2 10- to 12-oz | boneless center-cut pork |
| chops, about 1¼ to 1½ inches thick, brined | |
| 1 tbsp | canola oil |
| 2 tbsp | unsalted butter |
| 1 large | garlic clove, peeled and halved |
| 1 sprig | rosemary |
6 pickled cherry peppers
Take pork chops out of brine, rinse thoroughly under cold water, and pat dry with paper towels. Place an 8-inch cast-iron pan over medium-high heat.1
Add the oil2 to the pan, and when it starts to shimmer, add pork chops.3 Sear the chops until crusty brown, about 6 minutes on each side. Check the pork as it cooks, and be responsive. Due to the sugar content, the brine may begin to burn, so just move the pork around in the pan a bit. And that knob on your stove turns for a reason, so adjust the heat if you need to.
When you get a good sear on both sides, add butter to the pan. When it begins to brown, lower the heat to medium-low and add the garlic, rose-mary, and pickled peppers.4 Tilt the pan and baste the pork chops with the butter for about 1 minute. The chops should be firm to the touch, but still with a bit of give.
Remove pan from heat and transfer chops to a small cooling rack, letting them rest undisturbed for about 5 minutes. This simple step lets the proteins relax and reabsorb moisture, distributing the meat's juices evenly throughout. It might be the best 5 minutes you've ever spent.
Place the chops on a plate and top with the peppers and pan juices.
1If your skillet is too small, moisture from the overcrowded meat turns to steam and prevents surface browning, which is the main benefit of pan-roasting. If the pan is too large, the oil will spread out as it heats and burn.
2Because you're cooking at a high temperature, you need oil with a high smoking point — the temperature at which it starts to give off smoke. Although it might make you feel fancy, don't use extra-virgin olive oil. It burns too quickly for this kind of cooking.
3While I usually prefer a chop on the bone, on a stove, the meat closest to the bone — although it's the sweetest — won't cook to the same temperature. So boneless center-cut chops a little more than an inch thick are ideal.
4While you can use jarred cherry peppers (or Peppadew or, if you want extra heat, Calabrian), pickling your own adds a notch to your belt and gives you something to do while the pork is in the brine. See the recipe here.
Read more: Roasted Pork Chop Recipe - Skillet Roasted Boneless Pork Chop Recipe - Esquire
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http://www.esquire.com/features/food-drink/how-to-cook-for-men/roasted-pork-chop-recipe-0911
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