This Spiced and Seared Pork Chop Is All About the Crust
Photo by Farideh Sadeghin

FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Food

This Spiced and Seared Pork Chop Is All About the Crust

Just because you have to put away your grill sooner rather than later doesn't mean you can't enjoy supremely seared flesh all year long.
curtolaporkchop

Photo by Farideh Sadeghin.

There are plenty of reasons to cut back on your meat intake: consideration for your cardiovascular system, for the planet, and so on.

But the end of summer certainly isn't one of them. Just because you have to put away your grill sooner rather than later doesn't mean you can't enjoy supremely seared flesh all year long.

This pork chop from Nick Curtola of The Four Horsemen would do mighty well over flickering flames in your back yard, but it gains an even crispier crust when dusted with a mix of potent spices (coriander, cumin, fennel seeds, Aleppo pepper, chile flakes) and seared in a pan with a little bit of oil. Once you've achieved that, it goes straight into the oven to cook through to perfection.

RECIPE: Spiced Pork Chop with Mixed Greens

And while you're waiting for your chops to cook and then rest, you've got plenty of time to focus on other things: a garlicky sauce called toum, a quick salad of charred peppers and scallions, and an even quicker mix of baby greens tossed with nothing but lemon, olive oil, and salt.

Once your pork is cooked and well rested, slice it up like a rib-eye, plate it over the garlic sauce, and top it up with the salads.

Elegant as hell, stupidly simple, and uniquely delicious.