Pork Rib Chops

There are three kinds of pork chops: center cut, blade cut and rib. And the greatest of these is rib. This recipe will work with any of them, and they will all be delicious, so if you don’t have rib chops, don’t worry about it; go ahead anyway.

If you have time, I recommend that you brine the chops. Modern pork doesn’t have nearly as much fat in it as it used to. The 2,000 pound hogs have been replaced with 200 pound athletic piggies that can run the mile in less than four hours.

Brining, which we also recommend for other cuts of pork and poultry, makes the meat much juicier and more flavorful than it would be otherwise.

To brine the chops, dissolve 1/4 cup of salt in water in a 1/2 gallon zip lock bag, put in the chops, squeeze out the air, and put the bag in the fridge for an hour. If you don’t have time to brine the meat, don’t worry about it; maybe plan that the next time.

While the meat is brining, get out two plates and one fairly wide bowl. Also, a cookie sheet will be handy with a wire rack to lay the chops on after you coat them and before you cook them. You can also use the cookie sheet and rack to keep the finished chops warm in the oven if you cook them ahead of time.

Put two eggs in the bowl with a splash of milk and mix them up with a fork or wire whisk. Put flour on one plate and crushed soda crackers on the other. You will need 30 or 40 crackers, depending on how many chops you will be fixing.

After you take the chops out of the brining bag, rinse them off and pat them dry with paper towels. Sprinkle them with a little garlic salt and pepper and you’re ready to go.

Spear a chop with a fork and dredge it first in the flour, then in the egg mixture, and lastly in the cracker crumbs. Lay it on the rack and do some others. As you can see above, you will only be able to fry three or so at a time.

While the coating on the first batch sets up a little, heat some vegetable oil (about 1/8 inch in the pan) until it’s shimmering, but not smoking. If you can measure the temperature with an instant read thermometer, the oil should be about 320 degrees F. (I don’t know why we bother to say “F”. If it was 320 degrees C you would be looking for another place to live by now.)

Anyhow, when the oil is ready fry the chops 5 or 6 minutes on each side, so they are golden brown like the photo. Don’t cook them until they are dark brown or black. That’s a different dish…

If you need to, you can keep them warm in a 250 degree oven for quite a while and the coating will stay crisp. Man, that crisp delicious coating with the tender, juicy chop inside makes my mouth water just thinking about it.

The top photo shows the chops being served with mashed potatoes, gravy, and green beans & onions.