Crunchy Baked Pork Chops
Ingredients
Table salt
4 boneless center-cut pork chops 6-8 ounces each, 3⁄4 to 1 inch thick, trimmed of excess fat
4 slices hearty white sandwich bread torn into 1-inch pieces
1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
3 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoon olive oil
Ground black pepper
2 tablespoon Parmesan cheese, grated
1⁄2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
2 tablespoon fresh parsley, minced
1⁄4 cup plus 6 tablespoons flour
3 large egg whites
3 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350*F. Dissolve 1⁄4 cup salt in 1 quart water in medium container or gallon-sized zip-top bag. Submerge chops, cover, and refrigerate 30 minutes. Rinse chops under cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels.
2. Meanwhile, pulse bread in food processor until coarsely ground, about eight 1-second pulses (you should have about 3 1⁄2 cups crumbs). Transfer crumbs to a rimmed baking sheet and add shallot, garlic, oil, 1⁄4 teaspoon salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon pepper. Toss until crumbs are evenly coated with oil. Bake until deep golden brown and dry, about 15 minutes, stirring twice during baking time. Increase oven temperature to 425*F. Cool crumbs to room temperature. Toss crumbs with parmesan, thyme, and parsley.
3. Place 1⁄4 cup flour in shallow dish. In second shallow dish, whisk egg whites and mustard until combined; add remaining 6 tablespoons flour and whisk until almost smooth, with pea-sized lumps remaining.
4. Spray wire rack with nonstick cooking spray and place in rimmed baking sheet. Season chops with pepper. Dredge 1 pork chop in flour; shake off excess. Using tongs (or your hands), coat with egg mixture; let excess drip off. Coat all sides of chop with bread crumb mixture, pressing gently so that a thick layer of crumbs adheres to chop. Transfer breaded chop to wire rack. Repeat with remaining 3 chops.
5. Bake until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of chops registers 150*F, 17 to 25 minutes. Let rest on rack 5 minutes before serving.
Comments
This recipe is from the 2008 Annual of Cook’s Illustrated. I recently caught the episode of America’s Test Kitchen where they made these chops and decided that they’d be worth a try. They came together without too much trouble and took maybe an hour start to finish. You can assemble the bread crumbs and dredging stations while the pork brines, so there isn’t a lot of idle time.
These were fantastic. The breading is super flavorful and the chops came out flavorful and moist. Even Art, who has never been a fan of pork chops, had a hard time resisting his urge to eat the one we had leftover. I will definitely be making these again in the future.
Shown here with Funeral Potatoes.
Cook’s Illustrated 2008