As promised, here’s the technique for the pan fried pork chops. If you followed the link I gave to the pan fried chicken in butter, this is all going to look very familiar.
Ingredients
2½ pound pork tenderloin (picture shows total of 5 pounds)
1 stick butter (½ cup)
kosher salt
fresh ground black pepper
flour for dredging, about 1-2 cups
Directions
You can do this with pork loin or tenderloin. What’s the difference? Take a look.
The package on the top is a single pork loin. The one on the bottom includes two tenderloins.
In this next picture the two pieces on the cutting board came out of one package. The other package behind the cutting board is still sealed.
Prep
Slice each tenderloin into pieces about an inch wide. That should be about the width of two fingers.
Just like with the chicken, place the pieces between two pieces of plastic wrap (to keep it from splattering) with just a little water (to let it slide around without tearing). Then pound them flat with a meat mallet or a heavy bottomed skillet. This took a single good whack to make it wafer thin.
Stack them all up on a plate as you pound them.
Give them a generous coating of salt and pepper.
Work one layer at a time. As you coat each layer, transfer it to another plate and season the bottom of each layer, too.
Cooking
Place the seasoned chops on the back of the stove, with a plate of flour in front of it. Set the frying pan or skillet on the other side.
The pan I’m using here really works a lot better with a gas stove than the electric I’ve got. It has a lip on it that keeps it up off the stove, so controlling the temperature is really hard. Next time I’ll work with a smaller pan and just do more batches.
Melt a couple tablespoons of butter on your skillet over medium heat. Make sure there’s a good layer of butter anywhere you’re going to lay a chop.
One by one, dredge each chop in flour on both sides, and lay them in the melted butter.
Flip them over as soon as you see the edges start to brown up. If you’ve made them as thin as I have, it should only take about a minute.
Do the other side until it is golden brown and pull them off.
If you have to work in batches, add more butter before each new batch.
Serve with the fried smashed potatoes.
And that’s it.
Variations
Some of you have light bulbs going on over your heads. “Hey, this works for chicken and pork chops. Can you do steak?” Yes you can. “Lamb? Rabbit? Duck?” Sure, why not? This isn’t a recipe, it’s a technique. Use whatever meat you want. Add more seasoning besides the salt and pepper. Maybe some cayenne or chipotle. Maybe garlic and oregano.
Try it out. Be creative. If you come up with something great, leave a comment telling us about it.
Here I am making this on That’s Life with Robin Swoboda.
Want more like this? For more recipes like this, that you can hold right in your hands, and write on, take notes, tear pages out if you want (Gosh, you're tough on books, aren't you?) you might be interested in How To Cook Like Your Grandmother, 2nd edition, Illustrated. Or to learn your way around the kitchen, check out Starting From Scratch: The Owner's Manual for Your Kitchen.
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24 Comments
Yeah, I think I know what’s for breakfast on Saturday. Those, some potatoes o’brien and baking powder biscuits.
I do so love a recipe/technique that calls for “one stick of butter!”
Charles, yes, the leftovers were breakfast. Now don’t tease, what are potatoes o’brien?
Jenni, well, this was for a group of six people. I’m sure doing it for two you’d cut it down to … Oh who am I kidding. I’d use just as much and have leftovers.
Those look wicked good. I could go for a couple right now! Heh.
Normally, I would dredge them in eggs first, then flour, and I wouldn’t use as much butter… Is this a completely different technique?
Beatrice, the egg will make it more of a batter. I wouldn’t say it’s completely different, but this is definitely a much lighter crust.
Potatoes O’brien? Cube potatoes fried in butter with skin on, a generous amount sauteed onion and chives. Top with cheese and a little sour cream if you’re feeling frisky. Dangerously addictive stuff.
I bought some thin sliced boneless chops today for one of our meals this coming week. After reading your blog, I’m wishing I had purchased a loin and sliced them myself.
Charles, I just checked with my wife. She said she’s had them before, but they threw in the corned beef ends. I think I know what I’ll be doing with some leftovers in a couple of weeks.
Tracy, that’s the great thing about food. You’re going to need to eat again soon, so you can always make it next time.
I’m so glad to find your blog. This is the kind of food that my family loves. I’m for down home old-fashioned cooking, too. Thanks for the great recipes.
Marcia, have you got any family favorites you’d like to share? I’m looking for more recipes on the forum. Click that link to post one.
I have been itching to try this recipe since I first saw it, and I finally pulled a pork loin out of the freezer and went for it tonight. Let me just say, Drew, this one definitely gets my husband’s and my seal of AWESOME. They were so tender and juicy and even with such a simple seasoning they tasted great. Now excuse me while I go chow the leftovers…
Thanks Tamara, every time someone comments on this I get a craving again. Well, I do have a pack of tenderloins and two hunks of loin in the freezer. I wonder what we’ll be having tomorrow …
I found your page recently and have been sifting through your recipes and actually tried this one for my boyfriend and I for Easter since it was just two of us. This was great! We made one of your macaroni and cheese recipes with it too.
Keep up the good recipes!
Rai, good call on the mac and cheese to go with this. It rained all day today, and I could have really used something like that, but everything was frozen.
Finally, I had to leave a comment.
I've been looking over the site for about a week…I originally Stumbled across it, and couldn't stay away. So many things look good.
At any rate, this was the first thing I tried.
*drool*
The chops were wonderful. Perhaps not as golden and lovely as yours, but tender, juicy and delicious.
I also was brave enough to try a small batch of homemade pasta. It should have been rolled thinner, but I don't have a pasta roller. It was still good.
(Especially the strand or two I "tested" by dredging in some of the browned butter from cooking the chops…)
I'm looking forward to trying many more things from you.
Susan, next time you should just toss all the pasta in the frying pan and give it a good toss. The toss the chops on top.
Oh man, now I'm hungry.
I love this recipe. Didn't it used to use bacon fat though?
LM, I've done them both ways. I've done bacon fat and no flour dredge, but this time I wanted to use the same technique as pan-fried chicken.
Instead of butter what else could you use to cook them?
Thanks.
I prefer bacon fat. You can cook at a higher temperature than with butter, and it adds a little bacon flavor.
This was originally a chicken recipe, where you would want the butter flavor in the finished dish. But having done it both ways, I always use the bacon fat now when doing pork.
Thank you so much for this recipe. It inspired me to make my own healthier version. I followed everything until the flour and frying part. I lightly spritzed the pan and added the smashed loin and cooked. Then removed, added onions, garlic and marsala wine and brussel sprouts. It was really good. I hadn’t thought to prepare the pork loin as you did. I can’t wait to try it your way on special occasions! Also, those potatoes o’brien sound pretty tasty too. Loving your blog!
At least some bloggers can write. Thanks for this piece.
Wow, thanks.
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[...] Pan Fried Pork Tenderloin Chops | How To Cook Like Your Grandmother Feb 26, 2009 … I have been itching to try this recipe since I first saw it, and I finally pulled a pork loin out of … [...]