Chops - a delicious and satisfying dish that goes well with all, without exception, side dishes. Juicy pieces of meat are amazingly in harmony with vegetables, beans, cereals, pasta, potatoes and eggs.
What chops are made of
They make a delicious dish from almost any meat: beef, veal, lamb, chicken, turkey, rabbit. For the preparation of food, even the liver is used. However, the most delicious, soft, tender and juicy pork chops are obtained. The dish gains all these delicious qualities due to the fat content of the meat. Juicy pork chops can become a real masterpiece of culinary art, if you approach the process of creating them with all responsibility.
The choice of the main ingredient
Many novice housewives are primarily concerned about the question, which part of the pork to use to create juicy chops. For cooking this dish, meat from the back, that is, loin or tenderloin, is ideal. These parts are 80% meat and only 20% fat. This ratio allows you to make truly tender, soft, outgoing juice chops.
The quality of the main ingredient also plays a significant role in creating a delicious dish. In order to cook juicy pork chops in a pan, purchase fresh chilled meat. A pre-frozen product, as a rule, loses its properties, and dishes based on it are obtained dry and harsh.
When choosing, pay attention to the color of the meat. Quality pork has a light pink hue with streaks of white. If the color of the meat approaches bright red, then it is better to refuse such a purchase. Most likely, such a product contains many harmful substances.
If the color of meat meets all the requirements, then lightly press a finger on the cut of the chilled piece. High-quality pork will quickly restore its shape, but a dent will remain on the stale product.
Well, the last thing to do is to smell the meat. Fresh product smells very nice, and spoiled exudes sour or putrid amber.
How to Make Delicious Pork Chops
So, you have acquired an appetizing piece of meat, and you do not know what to do with it. Then step by step recipes (with photos) of juicy pork chops will surely come in handy. From this collection you will learn all the secrets and nuances of preparing a truly appetizing dish. Juicy, delicate, aromatic and incredibly tasty chops will be the main decoration of any table!
Crispy Breaded Meat
Juicy pork chops in a frying pan in a delicious ruddy “fur coat” will instantly become favorites of lunch, dinner or a festive feast. An ideal complement to such a tender and satisfying meat is vegetable slicing, pickles, mashed potatoes, fried or pickled mushrooms. Various sauces will also not be superfluous on this holiday of taste.
Food for a hearty and nutritious meal
- A kilogram of pork.
- Two large chicken eggs.
- Half a glass of sour cream 15%.
- One teaspoon of mustard.
- Two cloves of garlic.
- Two tablespoons of drinking water.
- One glass of wheat flour.
- Ground black pepper and salt.
- Refined vegetable oil for roasting.
Prepare paper towels in addition.
Tender Cooking Guide
- The juicy chops recipe starts with preparing the main ingredient. Wash the meat thoroughly under a large stream of running water, and then dry it with a paper towel. If the product contains films and veins, remove them first, otherwise the chops will turn out to be “rubber” in taste.
- Cut the prepared meat into slices 1 cm thick. From a kilogram of pork you should get about 10-12 steaks.
- Now every slice of meat needs to be beaten off properly. Place one steak on a cutting board and cover it with a bag or cling film. Thanks to this easy procedure, the juice from the meat does not splatter your kitchen, and the hammer will not stick to it. Armed with a special mallet, carefully beat off a piece of pork on both sides. Do this with all the steaks you have.
- Peel the garlic cloves and then pass them through the press.
- Season each beaten piece of meat with salt and pepper to taste. Flavor future chops with garlic gruel on one side.
- Let the meat be saturated with spices, and you will prepare batter for juicy chops in a pan. Break the chicken eggs into a deep bowl. Shake them lightly with a fork, achieving a complete mixture of protein and yolk. Add sour cream, mustard and water to the eggs. Lightly salt and pepper the future batter. Thoroughly mix all components with a fork.
- Pour wheat flour into a convenient flat plate.
- Put a frying pan with vegetable oil on the stove, setting medium heat under it. Wait for the fat to heat well.
- Take a chopped piece of meat. Roll it in flour on both sides. Now dip the pork in the egg-sour cream batter. Bread the meat again in flour and immediately put in a pan with hot vegetable oil. Do the same with all chopped pork pieces.
- Fry the meat over medium heat until a brown crust appears on both sides. On average, this process takes about 10 minutes (5 minutes from each side).
- After removing the chops from the pan, place them on a plate covered with a paper towel. In just a few minutes, the meat will be freed from excess fat.
- Serve hot to the table. It is in this state that the meat has an impeccable taste.
Delicious juicy chops without batter
Tender, melting in your mouth, meat can be cooked not only in breading. The batter, in fact, does not allow the juice to flow out of the chop during frying. Therefore, a chunk of pork breaded a priori cannot be dry. Of course, if the cook complied with all the rules of preparation. But to make juicy chops without batter is already aerobatics. Not every hostess can do this.
Meanwhile, in this process there is nothing complicated or overwhelming. Using the recipe for juicy pork chops without batter, you can create an amazingly delicate and divinely tasty dish that will delight both the eye and the stomach.
Ingredients for Making Soft Pork Steak
- Half a kilogram of pork tenderloin or loin.
- Three cloves of garlic.
- Half a glass of flavourless vegetable oil.
- A mixture of dry herbs (Provencal, Italian or any other).
- Two sprigs of fresh rosemary.
- Salt.
Additionally, paper towels or towels are needed.
Cooking Juicy and Tender Chops
- Cut a piece of pork into slices. The thickness of each should be about 1-1.2 centimeters. Rinse each steak thoroughly under high pressure with cold water, and then dry thoroughly with a paper towel. Carefully study all pieces of meat: if they have streaks or films, they must be carefully removed.
- Beat each chunk of pork with a special hammer on both sides.
- Place the steaks on a cutting board. Armed with a silicone brush, lubricate each piece of meat with a thin layer of vegetable oil (on both sides).
- Now sprinkle future chops with salt and a mixture of dry aromatic herbs. Adjust the amount of spices at your discretion. Sprinkle steaks with seasonings on both sides.
- Leave the meat for 30-60 minutes. During this time, pork absorbs part of the salt and the magical aroma of herbs.
- Pour the remaining vegetable oil into a non-stick pan. Crush the peeled cloves of garlic with the tip of a knife. Wash and dry the rosemary sprigs.
- Place crushed garlic and herbs in a frying pan with oil, and then place the frying pan in a moderate fire.
- Warm up the spices until the fat is hot. This can be understood by the characteristic crackle.
- Once the oil is hot enough, remove the garlic and rosemary from it - they can be thrown away. In the grease soaked in aromas of spices, lay out the pickled pieces of meat.
- Increase the heat to medium. Fry meat on both sides until golden brown.
- Check the chops for preparedness by piercing them with a knife: if the juice that has stood out has a pink hue, then continue to fry them further, a white liquid indicates that it is time to remove the steaks from the pan.
- Put the pork chunks on a flat plate. Immediately wrap the container with meat foil tightly.
- After 10 minutes, juicy, delicate, tasty and very fragrant chops can be served.
Pork in mushroom batter
If you are planning a celebration, then the recipe for juicy chops in a pan will certainly come in handy. Meat cooked in such an original way will decorate even the most solemn table. Juicy, tender and insanely aromatic pork in a batter of mushrooms will surely surprise your guests. The dish turns out to be very satisfying and nutritious, therefore, it does not need to serve complex side dishes. An ideal complement to the chop will be slicing fresh cucumbers and tomatoes, baked zucchini, pickles, stews or summer vegetables salad.
Products needed to create a meat masterpiece
- One kilogram of pork.
- 200 grams of fresh champignons.
- A full glass of sour cream.
- Four chicken eggs.
- One and a half cups of wheat flour.
- One teaspoon of baking powder.
- A small bunch of fresh parsley.
- A mixture of peppers, salt.
- Vegetable oil.
Still need paper napkins or towels.
The method of preparation of pork chops in mushroom batter
- First, prepare the meat in the traditional way. Rinse it well under running water, and then dry it with paper towels. Remove films and streaks, if present in the product. Slice pork into chops no more than 1 centimeter thick.
- Beat each slice with a special mallet on both sides. It’s not worth zealous. Chops should not become too thin.
- Now season the steaks with salt and a mixture of peppers. Rub meat with spices on both sides.
- Set the prepared chops aside, let them be saturated with the aroma of seasonings. At this time, prepare the original batter. Wash the mushrooms thoroughly, and then put them in a colander to remove excess fluid. By the way, if you wish, you can use any other type of mushroom. Oyster mushrooms or boletuses are perfect. Rinse the parsley and pat dry with paper towels.
- Finely chop the greens, and then fold them into a deep bowl in which it will be convenient to mix the batter. Cut the mushrooms into small cubes (no more than 0.5 cm). Add chopped champignons in a bowl with parsley.
- Break the chicken eggs into a separate bowl. Stir them well with a whisk, giving the product a uniform consistency. Add sour cream to the eggs. It is advisable to use a dairy product with a high percentage of fat content (from 20%). Mix the mass thoroughly again.
- Combine flour with baking powder. Sift it into a container with the liquid part of the batter. Knead the workpiece to achieve a smooth state. The batter should not contain lumps. If you are unable to achieve uniformity of mass manually, then use a mixer.
- Thick egg-sour cream batter salt to taste. Add a pinch of pepper mixture to it for flavor. Mix well again.
- Pour the finished batter into a bowl with chopped mushrooms and herbs. Stir the mixture with a spoon. It is important to achieve an even distribution of all components.
- Put the frying pan with vegetable oil over medium heat. Wait until you hear a characteristic crackle, indicating that the fat is hot.
- Roll each chop in batter on both sides, then immediately send it to the pan with hot oil. Scoop a mushroom mass with a tablespoon and pour over it the upper parts of the steaks.
- Fry chops on both sides over medium heat until meat and batter are cooked. On average, this procedure takes about 15 minutes. You can check the readiness of chops with a knife. Pierce the steak in the central part of the device and look at the color of the liquid that has been released. White, clear juice suggests that the meat can be removed from the pan. Red or pink liquid indicates that the chops are not ready.
- Spread hot pork in mushroom batter on a dish covered with paper napkins. They absorb excess fat.
- Serve chops to the table in hot or warm form. Cooled meat can always be reheated in a microwave, oven or pan.
Bon Appetit!
Conclusion
Now you know how to cook chops. They are good for their versatility. After all, they can be served not only for a family meal, they will decorate even the most solemn table!