Today my dad’s gonna show us how a master chef turns a simple weeknight dish into a gourmet meal: Pan-Fried Pork Chops. It’s literally the best pork chop I’ve ever had. So get ready, because this video is packed with simple tips and techniques you can use to level up your cooking right away, starting with how to prep the pork. Pat the pork chops dry first. First we’ll start by squeezing and pat-drying our pork. They soak up the marinade better when they're dry. After squeezing them, pat them dry. What's next? We'll use the back of the knife. Or you can use a tenderizing mallet. If you don't have the mallet, tenderize with the back of your knife. Tenderize it. Then it won't be tough when you cook it. My dad tenderizes the meat by pounding the pork with the blunt side of the knife. He’ll then turn it 90 degrees and continue pounding it which creates a cross-hatch pattern. You can also use a meat mallet here. The reason we do this is because pork chops are a leaner and therefore, tougher, cut of meat. Pounding it breaks down the muscle fibers so it’s more tender but we don’t want to pound so hard that the meat becomes a shapeless mush. Next, we’ll introduce the lean meat to flavor by mixing together the perfect marinade. We'll use 2 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of light soy sauce, 1 tbsp of cooking wine. You can use any brand of cooking wine. I'm using a Shaoxing rice wine. I'm not adding any salt to this, I'll just use some sugar. 2 tsp of sugar. 1/2 tsp of black pepper. 1 tbsp of cornstarch. Mix it well. We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com along with step-by-step instructions and video clips to guide you as you make the recipe at home. Once it's mixed, we can marinate the pork. Add it all in. If you're in a hurry, can you skip the tenderizing? Sure, but the pork chop will be more dense. It won't be as tender. Squeeze as you mix so the pork can absorb the marinade. Next, massage the marinade into your meat for about 5 minutes. We want to make sure it’s well-combined. All soaked in. Let it marinate for 15-20 minutes. Set it aside. Let's cut the other ingredients. We're using 3 cloves of garlic today. Now we’ll prep our aromatics. We’ll start by lightly crushing, peeling, and mincing our garlic. We'll cut up 1/2 oz of ginger. Next, we’ll julienne our ginger by cutting roughly 1/8-inch slices, then laying them flat and slicing them into thin strips. We'll cut the red onion into strips. After, we’ll slice both our onion halves into 1/4-inch slices. To level up your confidence in cutting all kinds of ingredients, check out our comprehensive masterclass on knife techniques in the Canto Cooking Club! To get access, check out club.madewithlau.com. Next, we'll lightly coat the pork chops in cornstarch. This is about 3 tbsp of cornstarch. This light coat of cornstarch makes the exterior crispy. "How do you lock in the juice of the pork?" When I marinate the pork, it soaks in moisture there. When I pan-fry them, there's a layer of cornstarch on it which locks in the juices. If the word paa sounds familiar, it’s because we use the word to describe various meats. For beef, we combine it with ngau (cow), to make the word ngau paa, or steak. For chicken, we combine it with gai (chicken), to make the word gai paa or cutlet, which we made last week in our Chicken Thigh video. For pork, we combine it with zyu (pig), to make the word zyu paa, or pork chop. What do all these meats have in common? They are slabs, cooked whole, not cut up until ready to serve. You can cut it up in the kitchen, reassemble it on the serving plate, and bring it out, or cut it up at the table like my dad. Our ingredients are ready, so let's start pan-frying the pork chops. Turn the stove to the highest heat. Now, add oil. 3 tbsp of oil. After heating the pan for 2-3 minutes, add your oil. We don’t advise heating first with a non-stick pan; instead you should add oil first, then turn on the heat. We can see the oil starting to smoke already, so turn the heat down. We'll add each piece of pork chop. To prevent burning, my dad likes to heat up the pan, but then turn it off when placing in the pork. Put all of the pork chops in before turning the heat back on. Medium heat. "How do I limit or reduce the oil splatter bonanza when dropping the pork chops into the pan?" First, if your pork isn't wet, it won't splatter in the oil. Don't use too much oil. You'll only get a "splatter bonanza" if your pork's wet. Say "Yummy!" I think he likes it! Good, huh? It's yummy! Now, we'll turn the heat up to medium. After frying for about 6-7 minutes, we’ll flip our pork chops. You’ll want to look for a nice golden brown crust that’s formed. See that? We’ll continue frying for another 4-5 minutes before flipping one more time. Flip them again and pan-fry the first side again. Can't you just flip once? No, it's best to flip twice. Can you explain why you flip twice? I flip the first time after the crust forms on the first side. I flip to pan-fry the second side. When the second side is done, I flip back to the first side. Moisture will have been working through the pork, so I want to pan-fry the first side again to fry that moisture out again. I want to get that first side crispy again. To reiterate, we flip the pork chops two times to dry out the moisture that’s built up on that first side, resulting in a crispier crust. If you’ve ever stepped foot in a Hong Kong diner, you probably wouldn’t be surprised to see Pan-fried Pork Chops or zin zyu paa as part of a lunch or dinner set menu, but did you know that it’s also commonly served as a savory breakfast option? You can easily incorporate this dish into any mealtime and it’ll work. For a hearty breakfast, throw the pork chops on a bed of rice with a fried egg. To make a classic HK diner lunch set, serve with rice, a few pieces of veggies, and a side soup like borscht. For dinner, follow my dad’s lead and serve the pork chops family-style with your favorite side dishes. After flipping the pork chops the second time, we’ll let it cook for about a minute, then create a little well to add your ginger and garlic. Now we'll add the ginger and garlic. Add the onions. Get the onions to the bottom of the pan. All right. Next, we'll add garlic salt. About 1 tsp. All right, time to add cooking wine. Finally we’ll add 1 tsp of cooking wine. Then turn off the heat and cover for about a minute to let the flavors get to know each other. Here, the cooking wine plays an important role: it binds to alcohol-soluble flavor compounds that would otherwise prefer to stay in the background. When we add it to the marinade, alcohol carries and infuses oil-soluble and water-soluble flavors that don't naturally want to mix. It also helps to counteract possible gaminess in fish and meat. When we add it during the cooking process, the alcohol increases the release of aromatic molecules, enhancing the sensory experience of the dish. We apply both techniques in this recipe for maximum impact. If you omit the cooking wine, the pork will still taste amazing! You'll miss out on these effects of using alcohol, but you can use water or any kind of broth in the last steaming step to at least get the effects of the steam-cooking. All right, heat off. Take the lid off. Oh my god. Stir the onions on the side. Mix the onions up with the ginger and garlic. They're cooked now, so let's plate. Onions. The onions look incredible. All right, friends! Our Pan-fried Pork Chops are done! I hope you all enjoy it! Hong Doy, Mui Mui, come eat pork chops! Cheers! Do you like pork? Look at that crispy, crunchy!
