Spent 45 minutes trying to get a good sear on cheap pork chops

I bought these bone-in pork chops on sale for $1.79 a pound and thought I could just blast them in a hot pan. But they stuck so bad I had to scrape half the meat off the bottom of the skillet. Anyone else struggle getting cheap cuts to not ruin your cookware?

2 comments

2 Comments

finley_lopez981mo ago

I read somewhere that cheap pork chops are often "enhanced" with a brine solution that messes with the heat. You're basically fighting all that extra water trying to get a crust on there. Sounds like drying them off good and using high heat oil is the way to go from what you said.

barnes.brian1mo ago

Wiped out a whole steel wool pad scrubbing that crust off my favorite cast iron after the same thing happened to me last week. Figured out the trick is to pat the pork chops dry with paper towels and let them sit out for 10 minutes before they even touch the pan. Also found out the hard way that cheap cuts have a lot of moisture pumped into them so they steam instead of sear. Did you try salting them early and letting it draw out the liquid before cooking?