Fried pork chops. Yes! They’re marinated in a buttermilk mixture, then dipped into panko crumbs, then fried ever-so-briefly in canola oil for 2-3 minutes per side and these are DONE!
I don’t fry meat very much. I don’t really fry chicken, although I did make that once and post about it here. I don’t fry fish at all. I don’t fry much of anything – sauté in a little oil, yes, but these are almost – but not quite – deep fried. What I had were thin-sliced pork chops, and didn’t really know what to do with them. Usually I have thick-sliced pork chops, but no, these were truly thin. I searched on the internet – I was sure I’d seen a recipe recently for thin pork chops, or watched some show about it, but couldn’t find a record of it. My online search for it didn’t result in much. Then I modified the search and found this recipe from The Hungry Mouse blog, which was just wonderful!
First the meat was trimmed of most visible fat – if you don’t, you’ll have all those edges with big bites of gloopy fat and that I didn’t want. The chops I had did have a thick edge of fat which I trimmed off almost completely. In a small plastic bag I combined an egg (I made half of the below recipe for 2 large, but thin pork chops), buttermilk, garlic powder, salt, black pepper. I did not have dried parsley, and fresh parsley would have burned, so I added in some dried sage instead. The meat was squished around with the marinade a bit and I let it sit for about 30 minutes or so.
Meanwhile, I’d prepared another plastic bag with nothing but 1/2 cup of panko crumbs in it. Once the rest of my dinner was ready – you DO want to have everything else ready before you start this because it comes together in a hurry – I heated canola oil (I didn’t have pure olive oil as recommended in the recipe) in a frying pan that was about 8 or 9 inches across. Big enough to hold the 2 pork chops with just a little bit of wiggle room. Just remember when you add oil to the pan, use less than you think, because the pork chops will displace the oil. The oil reached the top of the chops barely – not covered it – but just to the top edge, so I used too much.
Briefly drain – just by holding each chop out of the marinade – then one by one add them to the panko bag and hold the top tight while you toss the bag some. The panko will just perfectly cling to the egg-buttermilk marinade. As I finished that the chop went directly into the hot oil. The recipe said not to fry these unless the meat caused bubbling, so I did exactly as suggested – I dipped one edge of the chop into the oil – it bubbled nicely, so gently I slipped it into the oil. Then I repeated it for the second chop. I didn’t time it – 2-3 minutes per side is what it said. Very gently with Teflon-coated tongs I lifted up one corner of a chop to see if it was golden brown. Yup! Also very carefully, I lifted and turned each one. When you turn them over they’ll bubble up furiously, so it was time to turn down the heat. Way down, actually. I thought they were going to burn, but they didn’t. Another 2-3 minutes per side and they were done. I drained them very, very briefly on paper towels and served alongside some asparagus tossed with lemon juice and little butter, a green salad with veggies and a big honkin’ biscuit you read about a few days ago, Paradise Biscuits. Delish.
What’s GOOD: how quick they were to make. Nice flavoring, tender – amazing when you consider they only cooked 2-3 minutes per side. They might have been nice with some kind of sauce, but I didn’t have any, so they were served plain. If I’d had my druthers, I’d have served them with mashed potatoes and gravy, probably, but I almost never make that kind of meal!
What’s NOT: well, these probably aren’t all that healthy, but the experts say that if you do fry food, if the heat is kept consistently at a fairly high temp (over 375°) the meat and coating will absorb barely any of the oil. With the panko, I suppose it did take some, but believe it or not, these were not greasy.
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Panko-Crusted Thin-Cut Pork Chops
Recipe: Adapted slightly from The Hungry Mouse blog, 2008
Serving Size: 6
2 pounds bone-in pork center rib chop
2 extra large eggs
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried sage — crumbled
1 1/2 cups panko pure olive oil or canola oil
kosher salt for sprinkling
1. Use a half gallon ziploc bag for the marinade. If not, use large, shallow bowls for the egg and panko instead.
2. Line a sheet pan with waxed paper or aluminum foil and set aside.
3. Trim pork chops of visible fat, then place them in the ziploc plastic bag.
4. Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together then add garlic powder, salt, pepper and sage. Stir to combine. Pour this mixture into the plastic bag with the pork chops. Seal bag and smush it so all the surfaces are well covered. Set aside for about 30 minutes (refrigerate if preferred).
5. Place panko crumbs in another plastic bag. Lightly drain pork chops and one at a time drop them into the panko crumb bag, tossing so all surfaces are well covered. Place them on a waxed paper or foil covered sheet pan.
6. Use a large frying pan over medium-high heat and add about 1/4 inch canola oil (or pure olive oil). Wait until it’s heated up. Dip one end of a pork chop into the oil – if it doesn’t bubble immediately, the oil isn’t hot enough. Fry pork chops on one side for 2-3 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, remove the foil or waxed paper lining the sheet pan and replace with fresh.
8. Carefully lift an edge of the pork chops – if they’re golden brown, very gently and carefully turn them over and continue browning, and you may need to reduce the heat to medium so they don’t burn. Sprinkle the tops with a little kosher salt if desired. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side until chops are equally browned on that side. Remove to the baking sheet and keep in a low temp oven while you continue frying other chops, if needed.
Per Serving: 294 Calories; 16g Fat (49.1% calories from fat); 24g Protein; 12g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 130mg Cholesterol; 275mg Sodium.
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