How To Cook Pork Chop

By Leeanne Utiger
So you are feeling hungry and you want to know how to cook a pork chop?

There are a few ways you can in fact cook a pork chop, but before you can begin to cook this chosen cut of meat, you need to pay a visit to your local supermarket or your local butcher. You will be able to purchase exactly the right cut of pork specifically for your own personal preference. You may want to cook and enjoy a thickly cut pork chop, or you may choose to go for a thinner sliced pork chop.

Now that you have paid a visit to your local supermarket or butcher, you are almost ready to begin to know how to cook your pork chop. First we need to make sure you have all other ingredients that you may need, or may want to use when cooking your cut of pork. Because there are many varying herbs and or spices/seasonings and even marinade sauces from your local supermarket these days, you can have these on hand as well. A few that I recommend when you cook a pork chop can include: lemons or lemon juice, either fresh or dried basil, plum sauce or garlic/soy sauce and of course apple sauce. Not forgetting ground black pepper and salt.

Lets get to the lessons on how to cook pork chops then shall we?

Before you begin, you will need for this first method on cooking pork chops: a frying pan, a little cooking oil and a pair of tongs. Place your frying pan on to an element on your stove top. Turn the element temperature on to approximately half way. This will keep your pork chop cooking nicely and will not burn it before the meat on the inside is cooked, nor will it dry the pork chop out on cooking. Be warned, pork can be a very dry meat if you over cook it. Now that you have your frying pan on the element and the element is turned on, pour a little cooking oil into the pan and wait for it to heat up. While you are in fact waiting for this to happen, you can be coating your pork chop in something such as the garlic/soy sauce if you did not in the first place have it already soaking in it overnight (which you can do). When the oil has heated up sufficiently, place the pork chop into the sizzling pan. You may want to stand back a little, as the oil may start to splatter a little with the initial placing of the pork chop. If you 'feel' the temperature of the pan and element is too high, you can adjust it to suit yourself. In general I leave this side of the pork chop frying for about six to eight minutes, once again, depending on the temperature I have my element set to. Once this time has lapsed or the underside of the pork chop is browned, turn the pork chop over and repeat for the other side. How easy is this? I never said knowing how to cook a pork chop was going to be hard did i? Once the pork chop is in fact cooked and browned on both sides, remove it from the frying pan, being very careful not to spill hot oil all over yourself, or drip hot oil from the pork chop over the floor. You may want to rest the cooked pork chop onto a handy towel or serviette to simply soak up any excess oil the chop is holding from cooking. Never forget to turn off your element immediately. Once you have done this, you can now place the delicious smelling cooked pork chop on your dinner plate with the chosen vegetables you are going to compliment it with, and enjoy your dinner.

In addition to frying the pork chop and cooking it that way, you may want to opt for baking your pork chop actually inside the oven.

Using the pork chop and any of the above mentioned other ingredients, such as: a few squeezes of lemon juice with some ground black pepper, a sprinkling of salt and a dash of either fresh or dried basil, you can create a mouth watering baked pork chop. Simply line a baking dish either with baking paper, or tin foil and then place the prepared pork chop with all of the delicious extras into the baking dish and place inside your oven. Have the oven temperature set at approximately 180 degrees Celsius. Bake your pork chop for approximately fifteen minutes, before turning it over and baking the other side. You may also want to know how to tell if the pork chop you have chosen to cook is in fact cooked. Either use the point of a sharp knife, or a skewer (this is a needle like utensil), and poke it into the pork chop. If the juices run bloody, it is not cooked, if the juices run clear, then yes - your delicious pork chop is now cooked and ready for eating. Make sure you do not forget to turn your oven off at the control switch on finishing cooking your pork chop.

Another way for you to cook a pork chop, is to grill it, either on the barbque, or in the oven using a grilling tray. If you choose to use the oven, you will need to use your oven dish with the grilling tray placed on top of this. On top of the grilling tray, you then need to place your marinaded or plain pork chop. Once again, it is entirely how you prerfer to have your pork chop, as to whether yu give it any additional flavors. Set your oven on to the grilling option and place your prepared dish holding the pork chop fairly high up in the oven. Grill the first side for approximately five to six minutes, and then turn the chop over so the other side can also be grilled. On a barbque, you simply place the pork chop on the grilling plate and grill basically for the same time as you would using your grill feature on your oven.

With any choice of pork for a meal, heat up some already prepared apple sauce and serve this hot with your pork chop, if you so desire.

Enjoy your dinner!

See Also:
For more ideas on how to cook a pork chop, see:

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