Home › Sausages › Broiled Pork Chops
Broiled Pork Chops
Get chops rather less than half an inch thick. Have a clear fire; make the gridiron hot before putting the chops upon it, and let them be at such a distance that they may be done through. Pepper them before putting them down, and two or three minutes before they are done sprinkle a little salt over them, and, if liked, a little finely chopped sage or tarragon. Turn them frequently, and serve very hot. Tomato sauce, piquant sauce, Italian sauce, or Robert sauce, may be sent to table with them. Time to broil, sixteen to eighteen minutes. Sufficient, one pound for two persons.
A gridiron recipe from the age of open coal fires, easily translated to a grill or a heavy ridged pan. The one thing to change is the time.
- Sixteen to eighteen minutes is far too longThe instruction reflects a period insistence that pork be cooked well 'done through'. A chop under half an inch thick on a hot grill needs roughly three to five minutes a side; pull it at 145F internal with a short rest.
- "A clear fire"Coals burned down past the smoking stage, glowing and ash-grey, with no flame. On a gas grill that means high heat with the grates fully preheated; indoors, a cast-iron ridged pan given five minutes over medium-high.
- Heat the gridiron firstStill the hinge of the method. Meat laid on cold bars sticks and tears; bars hot enough to sear on contact release cleanly.
- Salt at the endThe recipe salts two or three minutes before the chops are done rather than at the start. With a chop this thin there is no time for salt to work inward, and late salting is the period practice here.
- The four saucesAll appear routinely in period sauce lists. Sauce Robert is an onion and mustard sauce built on a brown base; 'piquant' is a brown sauce sharpened with vinegar and chopped gherkin or caper; 'Italian sauce' of the period is usually brown, sometimes white, with mushrooms and shallot. Any mustard-forward pan sauce stands in.
- YieldOne pound for two people means roughly two chops each at this thickness, which suits chops cut from the loin or rib. Bone-in chops of the same weight will feed slightly fewer.
- If your chops are thickerModern butchers commonly cut pork chops an inch or more. Those want a two-zone fire, or a sear on the grill followed by a few minutes in a 375F oven, rather than a straight broil.