Please, please tell me how to get a pork chop tender

[Anonymous]

Would love to buy more of them since they are so cheap, but for the life of me, I can not get them to be tender.
TIA

[Anonymous]

Well, it matters quite a lot where you buy them. A pork chop from Whole Foods is going to be better [and more expensive] than in Giant.

That said, the trick is to pan fry them first but finish them off in the oven, under foil.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, it matters quite a lot where you buy them. A pork chop from Whole Foods is going to be better [and more expensive] than in Giant.

That said, the trick is to pan fry them first but finish them off in the oven, under foil.

This is correct. Although I seldom have any luck with the boneless ones; like most meats, they're a lot better if cooked attached to the bone.

[Anonymous]

They can also be more tender if you ask for them to be cut thick. I've done them on the grill this way and they were terrific

[Anonymous]

Brine them. Either salt water or milk.

[Anonymous]

Try brining http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/fennel-brined-pork-chops-10000000642267/

[Anonymous]

brine

[Anonymous]

I marinate them in lemon juice, garlic, salt, and white pepper. Then I don't overcook them. Nice and juicy.

[Anonymous]

The simple answer is don't overcook them. Many people today still cook pork to well done, those days are long gone. You can now safely cook pork to a nice medium rare, same as beef.

If you want it well done and maintain tenderness your going to have to slow roast the same you would a beef roast.

[Anonymous]

You have to braise or slow cook them! Bonus is that you can get the REALLY cheap shoulder end chops to do this.

[Anonymous]

Meat from whole foods is not inherently better than giant what a load of bs.

Some if the best meat I get is from Costco or Sams.

The issue with pork is that it now is very very lean. And people tend to over cook it bc years ago you had to cook to a higher temp to kill off possible trichinosis. Higher temp/over cooking of lean meat = tough.

You only need to cook it to about 145 degrees. Way less than most people think of as "done" for pork.

[Anonymous]

I do mine very simply--for the thinner cut, butter in the pan, fry them, not too hot, not too long.

Pink in the center is ok for pork chops--the idea of "well done" is very old, and due to parasite-ridden meat, which hasn't been the case in many, many years (like…50?) but the relic of doing it well done lives on.

A thick pork chop, medium rare, juicy, wow… fantastic.

[Anonymous]

Rare pork sounds disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Don't overcook them.

[Anonymous]

Braising is an excellent techinique for pork chops. Here's what I do:

1) lightly coat pork chops in seasoned flour (pepper, salt, thyme, oregano, garlic)

2) brown chops in skillet (olive or other vegetable oil). Remove chops once outside is nice and brown. Don't worry that they won't be cooked all the way through; this happens during the next step).

3) In the same skillet, add 1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock. Add one cut up onion, cover and simmer on low flame for about 90 minutes.

These chops will be super tender. You can also cook them even longer and the meat will literally fall off the bone.

Enjoy!