Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: buckle up for Southern-Fried Pork Chops

A shallow-fried favourite with a spicy twist

Colm O'Gorman's Southern-Fried Pork Chops

I shared a recipe for Southern Fried Chicken, cooked in an air fryer, a few weeks ago and it went down a storm. I have made it myself three or four times since, and it is rapidly becoming a family favourite in our house. I love the herby, peppery crust on the chicken, and that got me thinking of other dishes that could use the same coating. 

Pork chops were an obvious choice, so I tried those in the air fryer as well, but it did not work well. While the flavour was great, the crust was not the same, or not even really a crust. The pork was just too moist, and because, unlike the chicken there was no skin on the chops, the juices all ran off and turned the crust into more of a soggy paste.

It did taste great though, so I persevered. On my next attempt, instead of air frying the chops, I shallow fried them in a combination of rapeseed oil and butter. That worked beautifully. I got a crispy, golden crust that coated tender, perfectly cooked pork chops.

For maximum flavour, I used pork chops on the bone. These days it can be a little difficult to find those. The supermarkets usually only sell pork loin chops off the bone, but your local butcher will likely have chops on the bone.

I served this with crispy onion rings, mashed potato, and apple sauce. A German friend introduced us to mashed potato and apple years ago, and they are a wonderful combination. In Germany this is poetically called ‘Himmel und Erde’, which means ‘Heaven and Earth’. For this recipe I decided not to combine the potato and apple. Instead, as I wanted to keep the apple sauce a little chunky to eat with the pork chops, I served both separately.

Southern-Fried Pork Chop

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

I would suggest a green vegetable on the side with this dish. Some crispy tender stem broccoli tossed in just a little olive oil and sea salt and then cooked in the air fryer would be beautiful.

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 3 hours 0 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 3 hours 30 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 American

Ingredients

• 4 pork loin chops

• 1 litre buttermilk

• 250g plain flour

• 50g cornflour

• 1 tsp fennel seed

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• 2 tsp garlic salt

• 2 tsp dried thyme

• 2 tsp dried basil

• 2 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground black pepper

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• Rapeseed oil and 25 g butter to shallow fry the chops

• 2 large white onions

• 1 litre sunflower oil

• Apple Sauce

• 2 large bramley apples

• 35g butter

• 50g soft brown sugar

• Juice of half a lemon

• Flaky sea salt to season

• To serve

• Mashed potato

• Finely sliced spring onion

Method

1. Put the pork chops into a large bowl and add half the buttermilk. Stir to coat the chops, cover the bowl, and pop it into the fridge for two to three hours.

2. Toast the fennel seeds in a dry pan for a few minutes until they are fragrant. Crush them in a mortar and pestle or a spice grinder. Pop that into a bowl along with 200g of the flour and all the other dry ingredients for the coating and combine thoroughly.

3. Peel and core the apples, cutting the flesh into 2cm chunks. Melt 35g of butter in a pan over a medium heat. When it starts to foam, add the chopped apples, brown sugar and lemon juice. Stir to coat the apples, reduce the heat to low and pop on a lid. Cook for five minutes and then give it a stir. The apples should have started to break down by now. You want the apple to be soft, but still retain some texture. If it needs a little more time, pop the lid back on and cook for another few minutes. When the sauce is ready, season with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt. Taste and add more salt if needed. Remove from the heat and set aside.

4. Peel and slice the onions. Place them in a bowl and pour over the last of the buttermilk. Toss the onions in the milk and let them sit for fifteen minutes.

5. When the pork is ready to cook, remove the chops one at a time from the bowl and toss them in the flour and spice mixture. Coat each thoroughly, making sure there are no exposed spots.

6. Add the last 50g of flour to the coating mixture and mix that through. Take a handful of the onions from the buttermilk and toss them in the coating. Do this a few at a time or the coating will get wet and clumpy and will not coat the onions. As you coat each batch of onions, place them in a single layer on a baking tray. Heat one litre of sunflower oil in a large pan, brining it to 180 Celsius.

7. Heat a separate heavy based frying pan over a high heat to cook the chops. Add rapeseed oil to the pan, you want about half a centimetre deep of oil. When that is good and hot, add 25g of butter and reduce the heat to medium. When the butter starts to foam, carefully place the chops in the pan. You may have to cook the chops two at a time depending upon the size of the pan. Fry the chops for three minutes, until the underside is golden and crisp. Turn the chops over and cook for another three minutes. If you have a meat thermometer, use that to make sure the pork is perfectly cooked. Insert the probe into the thickest part of the chop, and when it is at about 63 Celsius it will be done.

8. While the chops are cooking, fry the onion rings. Do this in batches, cooking about a quarter each time. Drop them carefully into the hot oil and fry for a few minutes until crisp and golden. Make sure the oil stays at 180c, checking before adding each batch of onions. As each batch is removed from the oil, drain them on some kitchen paper.

9. Serve the chops on top of a generous dollop of creamy mashed potato, and lots of the crispy fried onions. Scatter a little finely sliced spring onion over each plate and serve the apple sauce on the side.