Sous vide is a cooking technique that uses an immersion circuit to cook food sealed within plastic bags or glass jars. The method by which the food is cooked involved placing the bagged or jarred food or ingredients within water that has been heated to a precise temperature and leaving the food to cook to the desired amount of time. In this article, we’re going to explore cooking delicious sous vide pork chops!
While the first steps toward sous vide cooking are the result of a British engineer, French and American interests saw to the technology's use in food preservation during the 1960s. The modern idea of sous vide cooking belongs to Georges Pralus, a French chef, who played around with the technology to great success in 1974.
Anyone curious as to why such a unique method of cookery is growing in popularity should be aware of what sous vide provides.
- You never have to worry about over cooking the food because the temperature is controlled by machinery and can never exceed the settings.
- There is barely any loss in nutrients or flavor when compared to other cooking methods.
- It is a way to cook food that seems novel and appealing.
Let's Talk Pork Chops
Just like any other chop cut, this comes from the perpendicular to the spine, often the rib or some other part of the pig's vertebrae. Because you can fry them, grill them, roast them and even stuff them, pork chops are a great way to get familiar with different cooking styles and you can even do so with or without the bone. Of course, you can also cook your pork chops à la sous vide, gaining all of the usual benefits involved from that particular approach; while pork tends to be a cheaper cut of meat, the cooking approaches other than sous vide run the risk of overcooking the pork or otherwise drying it out.
A Step-by-step Guide to Sous Vide Pork Chops
When it comes to preparing pork chops sous vide style, you should know that you will not be able to complete the cooking process with just the immersion circuit; you will also need either a grill or at least a hot pan. Provided below is an example of a delicious pork chops recipe that involves the art of sous vide cookery.
Ingredients for Sous Vide Pork Chops
- Pork rib chops, bone-in, 4; roughly 2.5 lbs in total.
- Salt, kosher
- Pepper, black, freshly ground
- (Optional: Thyme/rosemary, four sprigs)
- (Optional: Garlic cloves, two)
- (Optional: Shallots, two, thinly sliced)
- (Optional: Oil, vegetable, canola or rice bran, 2 tbsp)
- (Optional: Butter, unsalted, 2 tbsp)
Directions for Sous Vide Pork Chops
- Preheat your immersion circuit the temperature setting you require for your pork chops based on the doneness figures below. Season the pork chops with plenty of salt and pepper and then transfer to your sous vide containers, along with any shallots, thyme or cloves you were considering using. Seal the bags up and place them in the water for the recommended span of time for your desired level of doneness.
- Rare. This mixes tenderness, juiciness and is a bit slick. To cook your pork chops to this stage, you want this to set your circuit to 130°F and cook the chop for 1-4 hours.
- Medium-Rare. This is close to rare but with a bit more meatiness to each bite. Set your circuit to 140°F and cook the chop for 1-4 hours.
- Medium-Well. This is when you start drying out the meat and produce a firmer texture. Set your circuit to 150°F and cook the chop for 1-4 hours.
- Well-Done. If you have someone who prefers their meat well-done for some strange reason, they like their meat mostly-dry and firm. Set your circuit to 160°F and cook the chop for 1-4 hours.
- Give yourself as much ventilation as possible, remembering to turn on your kitchen vents. Take the pork chops out of the water bath and bag and give it a good pat down with paper towels. Add your preferred oil to either a cast iron or stainless steel skillet and rest the skillet on your hottest burner. Preheat the skillet until the point that it begins smoking. You are now ready to finish the pork chops in the pan.
- Feel free to work in batches but lay your pork chops in the skillet with either your fingers or some tongs. Feel free to add 1 tablespoon of butter but leaving out butter does result in a cleaner taste. Occasionally lift and check the pork's undersides to check the browning process. Allow it to cook like this until your crust is a deep crispy brown, roughly 45 seconds.
- Flip the pork chops over, adding another tablespoon of butter, plus any garlic, rosemary, shallots or thyme. Spoon the butter over the pork chops while they cook for another 45 seconds, reaching the same texture and color as the first side.
- Once your pork has fully cooked to a nice brown color, grab it with your tongs, turn it sideways and make sure to brown the edges; do not just settle for a browned top and bottom. Transfer the cooked pork chops to a wire rack positioned over a rimmed baking sheet so that they can rest.
- Repeat Steps Three through Five until all of your pork chops have been cooked.
- Prior to the moment that you are ready to serve the pork chops and any other sides you had in mind, reheat your pan drippings until they reach a sizzle. Pour this liquid love over your pork chops to restore any potentially lost crispness and then serve them immediately.
Sidebar: Finishing Sous Vide Pork Chops On the Grill
If you would rather use your beloved grill instead of a pan inside of your kitchen, possibly because the open air means there is less of a risk trapping the unpleasant odor of smoke within your home or you just prefer to use your grill as much as possible, consider this approach.
- Light one of your chimneys with charcoal. Light the charcoal until it all turns ashen gray and then pour out the coals so that they fill one side of the grate. Set your cooking grate into position, cover the grill and let it preheat for 5 minutes. If your particular grill happens to be a gas-powered model, set half of your burners to their highest heat, cover and preheat for 10 minutes.
- Clean and oil your grill grate, remove the pork chops from their temperature bath and plastic bags and give them a thorough pat-down with some paper towels. Place the pork chops directly over the hot side of your grate and cook them through, making sure to give a turn every quarter- to half-second, until such point that you have a deep, rich crust on the pork chops; this should happen in around 90 seconds.
Note: If your fire is about to flare up from contact with dripping pork fat, immediately close your grill lid to smother the fire and kill those flames. If that countermeasure seems like too much stress, you can also move the pork chops to the cooler portion of the grill with your long tongs until such time that the flames die down. Do not let your pork chops become surrounded in flames. - Move your cooked pork chops to a cutting board or serving tray and serve them on the spot.
In Conclusion
While pork chops are a staple food to serve for any family gathering or even as something for a couple's dinner, the usual cooking approaches can get boring over time. While deciding to cook your pork chops with the assistance of an immersion circuit will not do the job on its own, the exacting control you have over the cooking temperature means you can devote your attention to other matters, like preparing your side dishes, calling guests to confirm they will be coming over for the meal, and son on while the meat fully cooks. While people may worry about food-borne pathogens from cooking with pork, the combination of an immersion circuit and a heated pan or grill ensures that there is little-to-no risk of such problems happening in your kitchen. Whether you have been itching to try out your new immersion circuit or just wanted a novel approach to preparing your pork chops, you now have a tantalizing new recipe to try out.
The post Sous Vide Pork Chops – Easy and Delicious Recipe appeared first on Grill Master University.
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