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Monday Munchies ~ Pork Chops Recipe
Each Monday we will kick off the week with a Must have recipe to help get you out of the kitchen and back stitching ASAP!

Fabulous Pork Chops Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 pork chops
• 1 teaspoon bacon fat, grapeseed oil, or olive oil (or other hot smoke point oil)
• Salt
• 1-2 teaspoons of dry rub*

Dry rub:

• 1/4 cup cumin seeds
• 3 Tbsp whole black peppercorns
• 1 Tbsp coriander seeds
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

Combine cumin, peppercorns, and coriander in a heavy medium skillet. Stir over medium heat until fragrant and toasted, about 8 minutes. Cool slightly. Finely grind toasted spices in blender. Transfer to a small bowl. Mix in sugar and salt. Makes 1/2 cup.

Directions

Heat a large cast iron frying pan to medium high or high heat (hot enough to sear the meat). While the pan is heating, sprinkle a pinch of dry rub spices (about 1/8 teaspoon or a little more) on each of the pork chops. Using your fingers, rub the spices into the meat. Turn the chops over and repeat on the other side.

Once the pan is hot, add a teaspoon of oil or fat to the pan and coat the bottom of the pan. Right before you put the chops into the pan sprinkle each side with a little salt, or you can salt the chops in the pan. Place the chops in the pan. Make sure they have some room and are not crowding each other. There should be space between the chops in the pan or the meat will steam and not sear properly.

Tip: Arrange the chops in the pan with the thickest, boniest parts towards the center of the pan where they get the most heat.

Sear the chops, about 2 minutes on each side. Watch carefully, as soon as the chops are browned, flip them. As soon as you flip the chops, if you are using a cast iron pan, you can turn off the heat. Cast iron holds heat very well and there will be enough heat in the pan to finish cooking the meat.

If you have chops that are a lot thicker than 3/4" (many are sold that are 1 1/2"-thick), you can put a cover on the pan and let the chops finish cook for 5 minutes or so (if you are using a cast iron pan and have turned off the heat, there should be enough heat if you cover the pan to finish the cooking of a thicker chop, if not, lower the heat to low and cover.

How do you know when the chops are done? If you wait until you see juice oozing out of the top of the chop, it is definitely done. Typically you can keep the chops in the pan, the heat is turned off, so the pan is losing heat. The pan initially provides enough heat to sear the second side. As it initially cools it is still cooking, though not searing the meat. After a couple of minutes, it's just keeping the chops warm.

Serves 4-6, depending on the thickness of the chops.