Before buying pork chops, decide in advance which part it will be. If you love fried meat with a crust, take the neck. If you and your loved ones are more into lean pork, chops or sirloin are the best chops.
In the store, pay attention to the color of the meat: you should not take too bright or pale. In the first case, most likely, the pork was treated with a weak solution of nitrite salt - unscrupulous sellers can use it as a preservative. The consumption of this substance is not as scary as it might seem. But for the preparation of delicious pork chops, it is extremely undesirable - they will turn out to be dry, since the juice has already partially come out of the meat. A pale color of pork may indicate that the expiration date is near.
If the meat is frozen, it must be properly defrosted. Place the piece in the refrigerator for a day and only then defrost at room temperature. Fresh meat is best used on the day of purchase. If not, dry the pork without cutting into chops, place in a covered container and refrigerate.
Remove the meat in about an hour to "rest". Then, with a sharp knife, cut across the fibers into chops about 1-1.5 cm thick. Make diagonal cuts 2-3 mm deep over the entire area of the pieces. Then flip the pork and repeat in the other direction. This procedure is necessary in order for the salt and spices to penetrate deeper into the meat, as well as to keep the pork chops in shape during frying.
You can season the pork with a mixture of ground black pepper, dried sage and rosemary. Many chefs prefer to mix all the spices together with salt and then grate the mixture on both sides. Others, on the contrary, fry the pork on one side and turn it over, season with spices. There is not much difference in approaches, but rather a matter of habit.
If you decide to cook pork chops from the neck, you should not grease the pan with oil. It is enough to warm it up well and put the pork on a hot surface. For sirloin or carbonade chops, it is best to grease the frying surface with a few drops of olive oil. Delicious pork chops are obtained by grilling. In the absence of the latter, a good result can be obtained by frying the meat in a special frying pan - "grill".
