Pork Chops in Lemon-Caper Sauce

In response to Vanessa: 2 teaspoons create a sauce. 2 tablespoons (in conjunction with 1 1/2 cups of stock and 1 cup of white wine would create more of a gravy.

Searing aggressively for about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes per side, and finishing cooking in the sauce until an internal temperature of 143-145°F is reached is definitely the way to go. Don't go by time; use temperature to determine when cooked through. The interior should be pink and juicy, not grey. Use an accurate, instant-read thermometer for consistent results every time. Clocks are for telling time. Thermometers are for telling when food is cooked properly.

Wondering if it should be 2 Tablespoons of flour. The sauce is really thin when the directions are followed.

Sounds good, but the thing is: Pork chops sold today are almost fat free, You can cook them any way you want, and you'd still have tasteless meat (and if well done, then they're really hideous, tasteless cardboard). Switch to Pork shoulder (aka pork butt), cut it into 1 inch slices / steaks and cook / grill them with some oil, salt and pepper (or cook them according to this recipe but only 2 minutes per side). You'll never touch pork chops again. PS: Costco has them for about $2/lb

I just saw this but basically cooked the exact same thing Tonite for dinner except with pounded chicken breasts, and it was phenomenal. Only difference was I used dill instead of parsley, added a few slices of lemon into the reducing sauce, and did not use capers or zest. I actually thought I should have added capers as we were eating. Did not even think of doing this with pork though. Can't wait to try it.

Jane, If you sear the pork chops first, mid- high heat. 4-5 minutes on both sides w/olive oil as noted in the recipe. They should finish cooking through in the sauce. Perhaps a few minutes extra if they're very thick cut chops. Gone are the days of overcooked dried out pork. Trichinosis isn't much of a work today. Try to purchase good quality Berkshire pork.

Why drain the fat? That seems unlikely that anyone in real life would drain the fat...especially just to add a different fat back in.

There is a danger with seasoning the chops with dried Thyme before frying them - the Thyme is likely to burn and end up adding bitter grains of charcoal to the resulting dish, ruining its taste. Instead, add the dried Thyme to the sauce with the wine and stock. I adjusted the dish slightly - I added medium-dry cider (alcoholic, as always in the UK) instead of wine and added a chopped leaf of fresh Sage instead of dried Thyme to the sauce. I also added the jus from the chops to the sauce. Great!

Just made this - a lovely recipe with a great sauce. Here's a genius addition: chard stems. I had a bunch of them leftover after harvesting my chard and using only the leaves. I cut the stems into 3-4 inch lengths, and simmered them after adding the liquids in Step 2. I covered the pan and let them cook until tender - about 8-10 minutes, then I removed the cover and reduced the sauce. Everything else stayed the same. I served the pork chops on a bed of chard stems with the sauce covering it all.

Served this tonight with mashed Japanese (white) sweet potatoes. Used 3 Tbsp. Flour but made no other changes. Parsley instead of the usual dill is genius. This is a recipe I will not tinker with. Cooked the thick chops five minutes on a side so they didn’t toughen up. Might even do four minutes next time. This is the first caper-lemon sauce I have ever really loved and with the sweet potatoes it was simply incredible!

Thyme? Sage would be better. And why would you throw away all that flavour and caramelised fond in the cooking fat? Dust the chops in flour before you cook. Simpler and better.

I recently read an article about the magic of mayonnaise (eggs and oil really) and how you should lightly coat the meat before cooking to help it brown. I also read a tip to sear both sides but then to flip every minute or so to help brown. They came out nicely browned a juicy.

Actually, it is done in France. This a roux, a fancy name for flour mixed with fat, which is the foundation for four out of the five French mother sauces.

Always a good idea to score the outer fat ring on the chops all the way through the fat to the loin. This prevents them from curling in the pan. Awesome dish!

I make a similar dish all the time. Whisk a little Wondra into the sauce to thicken. Stoneground Dijon mustard is also a tasty addition.