Sous Vide Greek Pork Chops
Speed - 96%
Simplicity - 98%
Tastiness - 97%
97%
Excellent!
The pork chops were cooked to a perfectly succulent medium-well. The Greek-inspired flavors make this simple dish unbelievably excellent.
Ingredients
- 3 Pieces Pork Chops
- 6 Cloves garlic crushed
- 2 Sprigs Rosemary
- 1/2 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns
- 1/4 Cup olive oil
- 1 Piece Lemon juiced
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Blend the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and black peppercorns in a food processor.
- Marinate the pork overnight in the mixture.
- Cook the pork chops sous vide for an hour at 150F.
- Transfer the pork chops in an ice bath.
- Drain the pork out of the cooking juices in the bag.
- Season the pork with salt.
- Sear the pork chops for a minute per side in a hot skillet.
I'm a big fan of Greek cooking for its very straight-forward approach, relying only on the use of a few simple yet very effective ingredients, thoughtfully put together for wonderfully bright flavors. Sophisticated simplicity as I'd like to describe it, Greek food just delights the palate with all its freshness.
With the abundance of excellent produce, Greek cooking is all about showcasing nature's flavors at their best. . . at their freshest. A fact which I think all cooking should be. For me, no fancy cooking skill nor method could cover up for the use of poor ingredients to begin with.
We're using a basic Greek-inspired marinade for this recipe of pork chops and potatoes. Garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and black peppercorns are simply pulsed into a rough paste for our marinade. Let the simplicity of Greek cooking inspire you. . . throw in other herbs you like and go by feel when determining the right quantity for each ingredient. Let this recipe serve merely as a guide or perhaps something to get you started into cooking up your very own “Greek” dishes.
The only advice I could give for now would be to hold-off on the seasoning just until the pork chops are ready for the final stage of cooking. Adding salt into this marinade would cause the pork to dry out.
Put the pork and marinade into a resealable bag, arranging the chops in a single layer for even exposure to those flavors and later, even cooking. Leave them in the chiller overnight or for at least 4 hours.
Having marinated our pork inside a sous vide bag, they're ready to go straight into the cooking water bath. For chops under an inch thick, such as the ones that I used, an hour or so at 150F should get them to a perfect medium-well.
When the time's up, transfer the sous vide bag to an ice bath to stop the pork from cooking any further. This should also bring down the internal temperature of these chops so they don't cook past medium-well as we finish them off in the hot pan.
After a few minutes in the ice bath, take the pork chops out of the bag and leave them out to slightly dry in a colander. Air-drying will help them sear better for a more crisp and flavorful crust. It would be the right time to season them too with a bit of salt at this point.
Those cooking juices from the pork will be so flavorful to put into waste. That, with a bit of salt and more chopped rosemary, would be perfect to flavor some boiled potatoes for an excellent side to our dish.
The pork chops are now ready for a final sear. This should only take a minute or less per side in a hot skillet or on the grill.
Searing the chops in a pan would leave lots of flavor in the form of pan drippings. Tossing those potatoes to lightly roast in that same pan would indeed be a good idea.
Ingredients
- 3 Pieces Pork Chops
- 6 Cloves garlic crushed
- 2 Sprigs Rosemary
- 1/2 Tablespoon Black Peppercorns
- 1/4 Cup olive oil
- 1 Piece Lemon juiced
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Blend the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, rosemary, and black peppercorns in a food processor.
- Marinate the pork overnight in the mixture.
- Cook the pork chops sous vide for an hour at 150F.
- Transfer the pork chops in an ice bath.
- Drain the pork out of the cooking juices in the bag.
- Season the pork with salt.
- Sear the pork chops for a minute per side in a hot skillet.
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