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Fried Pork Chops
Cut about half inch thick; trim neatly.
Put a little fat in the frying pan and when hot, the chops. Turn often until brown all over. A few minutes before they are done, season with sage, salt and pepper.
A four-line recipe that assumes the cook already knows what a browned chop looks like. The two things worth adding are a temperature and a reason for the late seasoning.
- Thickness and cutHalf an inch is thinner than most chops sold today, which run three-quarters to an inch and a quarter. A half-inch chop cooks through in roughly 6-8 minutes total; a thicker one wants lower heat after the initial browning, or it will colour before the centre is done.
- DonenessCookbooks of this era generally cooked pork until thoroughly done, and fear of trichinosis is the reason usually cited. Current USDA guidance is 145F at the centre followed by a three-minute rest, which leaves a faint blush of pink and a far juicier chop. Use an instant-read thermometer rather than the clock.
- "A little fat"Probably lard, or trimmings rendered from the chop's own fat cap; the recipe does not say. Any neutral oil with a high smoke point works. You need only enough to film the pan; the chops release their own fat as they cook.
- Turn oftenThis is sound. Frequent turning keeps the surface temperature more even and can cook the interior faster than a single flip. Every 30-60 seconds is not too much.
- Why the sage goes in lateDried sage scorches and turns acrid in hot fat. Adding it in the last minute or two lets it bloom in the pan drippings without burning. Salt applied at the end also draws out less surface moisture during browning.
- Trim neatlyLeave a thin rim of fat on the edge if you can. Stand the chops on that edge in the pan for a minute to render it before laying them flat, and you will not need to add much extra fat at all.
- YieldThe original gives none. Reckon one chop per person, two for large appetites, and do not crowd the pan; chops touching each other steam rather than brown.
Sage and pork is one of the oldest pairings in English and American cookery, fixed in place long before this book by sage-seasoned sausage and by the herb's reputation as an aid to digesting fatty meat. The Bride's Cook Book appears to belong to a genre of small volumes often said to have been published around the turn of the twentieth century for young women setting up house, though the dating rests on style alone, and its manner shows it: the instructions assume the reader has watched someone fry a chop and needs only a reminder of the order of operations. Note what is absent. There is no temperature, no timing, no quantity, because the wood or coal range gave no numbers to quote and the cook judged by the sound and colour of the pan. The one genuinely instructive line is the direction to turn often.