Peppercorn Crusted Pork Chops

Note: This recipe is intended for making 8 pork chops. If you want to do 4, just split the recipe cleanly in half and it'll work out just fine.

Step 1: Ingredients

 

For this recipe, you're going to need:

• Flour
• Salt
• Peppercorns
• A Hammer
• A Ziploc Bag
• Two bowls
• Two egg yolks
• Water
• Olive Oil

Step 2: Smash 

Pour a measure of peppercorns in to your Ziploc bag. The peppercorns are going to lose a lot of their burn when they fry in the breading, so use more than you think you're going to need. You want a lot of cracked pepper in this recipe. Then smash it with a hammer. Repeatedly.

Step 3: Flour Mix

 Fill a medium bowl about half full of flour, then pour your cracked peppercorns on top of it and give it a good coating of salt (as shown above). Then mix it all together with a fork:

Step 4: The Dipping Mix

 

 In a smaller bowl, crack two eggs and only add the yolks. Then fill the bowl 1/2 to 2/3 full of water and add two or three handfuls of flour:

 Mix it all together with a fork until you start to feel a little bit of resistance when you're mixing. You want the dip to be thick but not as thick as, say, pancake batter or even crepe batter:

Step 5: Trim the Porkchops

I usually buy a whole pork loin and then cut it up in to chops, which means there's a pretty thick ribbon of fat around the edges. Trim that off because the texture is... kind of awful if you leave it on when you fry it.

Step 6: Get Ready to Fry

After you set up your work area, put a moderate amount (maybe 1/4" thick) of olive oil in your frying pan and heat it til JUST before it smokes.

Step 7: Let's Get Fryin'

This is going to happen in 5 steps. First, dunk a porkchop in the Dip:

 Then roll it in flour:

Then do it again. Which is to say, you're going to do this: Dip, roll in flour, dip, roll in flour.

Then add it to your frying pan:

Flip them when they start to look a little "liquidy" around the edges, like so:

Now, at this point, your oil may start hissing and spitting like crazy. If it does, it just means you've got the heat on a little too high. Don't panic and just turn it down a notch or two until it starts to become a little more sedate.You're going to have some popping and splattering because, well, you're frying... but if it starts to get a little too aggressive, turn it down.

The short version? Listen to your oil. If it sounds too "angry", turn it down.

After the flip, use a meat thermometer to check the temperature:

Once it hits 145, set them to the side to rest on a draining rack:

aaand here we are! Peppercorn crusted pork chops. This recipe is good enough that I completely forgot to take a picture of the 'freshly plated' meal, we were a little too eager to get to eating: