A dry pork chop almost always has the same cause: it was overcooked, for fear of undercooking it. Today's pork is eaten cooked through but still slightly pink in the centre. Here's how to get there in a pan.
Pick the right chop
At least 2 cm thick. A thin chop cooks too fast: by the time the outside browns, the inside is already dry. Bone-in chops stay juicier near the bone.
Before cooking
- Take it out of the fridge 20 minutes ahead.
- Pat it dry with paper towel: a wet surface won't brown.
- Nick the fat on the edge every 2 to 3 cm, without cutting the meat. Otherwise it shrinks as it cooks and the chop curls up.
- Salt just before cooking.
The cook, for a 2 to 2.5 cm chop
- Empty pan, medium-high heat, until the water drop test says ready. Then a spoon of neutral oil.
- 3 minutes without touching it. It releases by itself once the crust has formed.
- Flip, 3 minutes on the other side.
- Drop to medium heat and finish for 2 to 4 minutes, turning once or twice, with a knob of butter and a garlic clove if you like, basting with a spoon.
- Stand it on its fat edge for a minute to brown it.
With a thermometer there's nothing to argue about: 63 °C in the centre. Take it off a degree or two before; the temperature keeps rising as it rests.
Rest: 5 minutes
On a warm plate. Cut straight away, it empties its juice onto the plate. Make the sauce meanwhile.
Mustard sauce, in the same pan
Pour off the excess fat, keep the brown bits. A chopped shallot for a minute, a splash of dry white wine off the heat, scrape the bottom and reduce. Add cream and a spoon of wholegrain mustard, simmer for a minute. It's the classic sauce for pork chops — how deglazing works.
The exact quantities for this sauce, and nine others, are in the 10 pan sauces in 3 minutes booklet.
The three mistakes
A chop that's too thin. Under 2 cm, it dries out before it browns.
Cooking it “to be safe”. 63 °C is enough. Past 70 °C it turns dry and stringy.
No rest. Five minutes of waiting is the difference between a juicy chop and a dry one.
Boneless and even more tender, tenderloin follows the same principle, on all four sides — pan-seared pork tenderloin. And as a breaded escalope stuffed with ham and cheese: cordon bleu.
A stainless pan does this very well: it sears hard and leaves the brown bits that make the sauce. The pan we film with is 304 stainless with no coating, with the 25-recipe book free.
