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.
