How to Cook Pork Chops

Pork chops are nature's perfect food. When you see the cheap pork chops on sale at the grocery, buy a bunch of them and keep them in the freezer for later. Pork can sometime carry a parasite called trichinella, but the parasites are killed at 140 degrees Fahrenheit, far lower than the usual temperature of cooked pork. Trichinosis from pork has been exceedingly rare in the U.S. for the past 30 years.

Ingredients

• Pork chops
• Oil
• Rosemary leaves
• Seasoned Salt
• Pepper

Steps

1. 1
   Thaw the pork if it's frozen. You can do this in the microwave or more preferably, you can put the entire frozen package of pork under a faucet that's running cold water for a while. do not use hot water, as it can encourage the growth of bacteria.
2. 2
   Use a heavy pan - cast iron, anodized aluminum, or a good stainless steel pan is best. Non-stick pans will suffice, but they won't give you as good of a crusty caramelized exterior.
3. 3
   Heat the pan on the stove top on medium high. Season the chops with salt and pepper.
4. 4
   Add the oil. Don't add oil to a cold pan. You can also use butter, but butter will burn and smoke at a lower temperature compared to oil.
5. 5
   Add the thawed chops gently. Be careful not to splatter yourself with hot oil in the process!
6. 6
   Leave the chops alone for 3 to 5 minutes. Once the edges of the chops start to come up slightly from the pan, it's time to flip the chops. DO NOT use a fork, only use tongs or a metal spatula. If you try to flip too early, the pork could be stuck to the pan and tear, making the pan very hard to clean and ruining the caramelization.
7. 7
   Right before you flip the chops, take some rosemary leaves and rub them between your palms over the pan. this will bruise the spices and make the oils come out. The goal is to rub them and allow them to fall onto the meat and oil.
8. 8
   Cook the chops on the new side until the edges come up from the pan, like before.
9. 9
   Add some more rosemary and flip them. When they are done, take them out of the pan and set aside on a warm plate.
10. 10
    Add some water, wine, or broth to the pan and scrape up the browned bits on the pan. This will deglaze the pan. The liquid will boil shortly and begin to evaporate off. In cooking terms, this is called "reducing". In fat guy terms, this is called "making gravy". Once the liquid has boiled almost all the way off, you'll notice a new sound. Now is your time to spring into furious action!
11. 11
    Grab a couple pats of butter and start swirling the liquid around the pan to combine. Add the chops back to the pan with the juices that have run out. Flip the chops and coat the other side.

Tips

• Cheap pork is just fine.
• You can add other things to the water phase. White wine is good if you are trying to impress a chick or feel you deserve a better quality of food. Just add it to the cold water and let it reduce.
• If you like a spicier chop, add some hot pepper chips to the chops in the rosemary phase. Hot sauce works, too.
• One cool recipe involves adding anchovies 3 minutes after the pork has started to cook. Spread liberally.
• Try spreading the pre cooked pork with jelly
• Some people enjoy the charred taste of an open flame roasted pork chop. If this is true for you, try spreading it with vegetable and canola oil.

• warnings
• The USDA recommends cooking pork to at least 150 degrees. Use a meat thermometer for accuracy.