I find that my porkchops are always tough. How do you avoid a dry, tough, porkchop? Any tricks or tips?

I do try to cook them well though... just for safety...

You can brine the pork chops first, which is something we often do. Check out the brine on the pork roast with cardamom mushroom sauce recipe. As for safety, there hasn't been a case of trichinosis in domestic pork here in the US for over 50 years. Consequently, it is no longer necessary to cook the pork until it is tough as shoe leather. A little pink in the middle is perfect. ~Elise

Do you put any oil/butter into the nonstick pan, or just brown the chops in the "dry" pan? I've never tried browning meat without some kind of oil before - just wondering if it works.

Oddly no. I just brown the chops as is, no added fat. BTW, my mom will sometimes sprinkle salt on the pan before laying down the meat. The salt acts like little ball bearings and helps keep the meat from sticking to the pan. She does this with any steak, burger, or chop. ~Elise

Yes, brine the pork ...the chops turn out moist, juicy and delicious.

Interesting, my go-to ham glaze these days is vinegar, Dijon and red pepper jelly simmered together until thick. It was one of those "hey this stuff ought to be good together" improvs. I'll have to try the red berry jelly sauce on the next batch of chops and see what the boss lady thinks.

Miss Bauer? Pardon me, but I have a question...

Wouldn't you get better fond development when you don't use a non-stick pan?

And as far as dry, tough pork chops, maybe a small outside ring of fat or some marbled chops would help (beside proper cooking)? I always look for meat with some striations of fat. If you have a good butcher or meat counter, it's not entirely impossible. I offer up this fine piece of Berkshire pork as an example: http://tinyurl.com/39ymeeb

Hey Jonathan! Well for you, I would recommend putting some bacon fat into a cast iron pan and going from there. ;-) Hmm, regarding the non-stick issue, good point. Actually, this was an instruction from the Silver Palate, and I kept it because it works. Perhaps given that you make the sauce in the same pan, it just makes it easier to clean up. That and you don't need to add any fat to the pan to get it started. Of course I would recommend Berkshire pork with lots of lovely fat, but unfortunately, most people don't have access to pork like that from their local grocery store. ~Elise

This was fantastic. Next time I'm doubling the sauce and adding a little bit of spice. Thanks for the recipe.

The sauce is great - deglazing with the cider vinegar really brought out some wonderful flavor. This dish drew an enthusiastic "mmmm!, that's really good!" from my 17 year old son who typically responds to most everything in noncommittal, monosyllabic grunts. So good, in fact, was the sauce that dad made for the pork chops, that he thought that I must also have made the tasty como loaf that I had picked up from the local baker earlier.

Thanks for inspiring and encouraging my Saucier musings.

I'm always looking for new ways to cook pork chops, since I can never replicate my Step-Mother's method.
This one sounds good, except I'm not buying any red jelly just for this recipe. I will be using orange marmalade and I don't have to guess how it will taste. It will be deeelish! Thanks for a new one to add to my file.

Hi Elise,

First and foremost id like to say thank you for such a wonderful site. I constantly refer to this page for inspiration be it 4 a quick dinner or snack for myself or a dinner party for eight. I always know that whatever I choose to make will be delightful and go down a storm! anywhos to the question i have... I'm from ireland and just wondering is the jelly you refer to in this recipe something like this
http://www.foodireland.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=570307&Category_Code=chiversjelly&Product_Count=4
or is it an unsweetened jam in your country? If its the former do you make it up as per pack instructions then use the quantity specified or would you use it neat? Hope this makes sense cus i really wanna try this one :-) thanks again