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Pork Chops in Lemon-Caper Sauce
![Pork Chops in Lemon-Caper Sauce](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/11/10/magazine/10mag-eat/10mag-eat-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 35 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 4bone-in pork chops (about 8 ounces each)
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
- ½teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 2tablespoons olive oil
- 4tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1very small shallot, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
- 2garlic cloves, minced (about 1 teaspoon)
- 2teaspoons all-purpose flour
- 1cup dry white wine
- 1½cups chicken stock, homemade or low-sodium, if store-bought
- 2tablespoons drained capers
- 2tablespoons minced fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
- 1teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons juice
- Hot sauce (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Dry the chops with paper towels, and season aggressively with salt, pepper and the thyme. Swirl the olive oil into a large skillet, and heat over medium until the oil begins to shimmer. Add chops, and cook until well browned on each side and cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chops to a plate, and cover to keep warm.
- Step 2
Drain the fat from the skillet, then melt 2 tablespoons of butter in it over medium heat until sizzling. Add the shallot and garlic, and sauté until the aromatics soften, reducing the heat if necessary, about 1 minute. Sprinkle in the flour, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Whisk in the wine and chicken stock, raise heat to high and bring the liquid to a boil, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Reduce heat to medium-high and cook, uncovered, until the liquid is reduced by half, 7 to 10 minutes.
- Step 3
Stir in the capers, parsley, lemon zest and juice and hot sauce to taste (if you’re using it), and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter until it’s melted and the sauce looks smooth. Nestle the pork chops into the sauce, and allow them to warm up for a couple of minutes, then serve, pouring sauce over each pork chop to taste. Garnish with more fresh parsley.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
In response to Vanessa: 2 teaspoons create a sauce. 2 tablespoons (in conjunction with 1 1/2 cups of stock and 1 cup of white wine would create more of a gravy.
Searing aggressively for about 1-1/2 to 2 minutes per side, and finishing cooking in the sauce until an internal temperature of 143-145°F is reached is definitely the way to go. Don't go by time; use temperature to determine when cooked through. The interior should be pink and juicy, not grey. Use an accurate, instant-read thermometer for consistent results every time. Clocks are for telling time. Thermometers are for telling when food is cooked properly.
Wondering if it should be 2 Tablespoons of flour. The sauce is really thin when the directions are followed.
Sounds good, but the thing is: Pork chops sold today are almost fat free, You can cook them any way you want, and you'd still have tasteless meat (and if well done, then they're really hideous, tasteless cardboard). Switch to Pork shoulder (aka pork butt), cut it into 1 inch slices / steaks and cook / grill them with some oil, salt and pepper (or cook them according to this recipe but only 2 minutes per side). You'll never touch pork chops again. PS: Costco has them for about $2/lb
I just saw this but basically cooked the exact same thing Tonite for dinner except with pounded chicken breasts, and it was phenomenal. Only difference was I used dill instead of parsley, added a few slices of lemon into the reducing sauce, and did not use capers or zest. I actually thought I should have added capers as we were eating. Did not even think of doing this with pork though. Can't wait to try it.
Jane, If you sear the pork chops first, mid- high heat. 4-5 minutes on both sides w/olive oil as noted in the recipe. They should finish cooking through in the sauce. Perhaps a few minutes extra if they're very thick cut chops. Gone are the days of overcooked dried out pork. Trichinosis isn't much of a work today. Try to purchase good quality Berkshire pork.
Why drain the fat? That seems unlikely that anyone in real life would drain the fat...especially just to add a different fat back in.
There is a danger with seasoning the chops with dried Thyme before frying them - the Thyme is likely to burn and end up adding bitter grains of charcoal to the resulting dish, ruining its taste. Instead, add the dried Thyme to the sauce with the wine and stock. I adjusted the dish slightly - I added medium-dry cider (alcoholic, as always in the UK) instead of wine and added a chopped leaf of fresh Sage instead of dried Thyme to the sauce. I also added the jus from the chops to the sauce. Great!
Just made this - a lovely recipe with a great sauce. Here's a genius addition: chard stems. I had a bunch of them leftover after harvesting my chard and using only the leaves. I cut the stems into 3-4 inch lengths, and simmered them after adding the liquids in Step 2. I covered the pan and let them cook until tender - about 8-10 minutes, then I removed the cover and reduced the sauce. Everything else stayed the same. I served the pork chops on a bed of chard stems with the sauce covering it all.
Served this tonight with mashed Japanese (white) sweet potatoes. Used 3 Tbsp. Flour but made no other changes. Parsley instead of the usual dill is genius. This is a recipe I will not tinker with. Cooked the thick chops five minutes on a side so they didn’t toughen up. Might even do four minutes next time. This is the first caper-lemon sauce I have ever really loved and with the sweet potatoes it was simply incredible!
Thyme? Sage would be better. And why would you throw away all that flavour and caramelised fond in the cooking fat? Dust the chops in flour before you cook. Simpler and better.
I recently read an article about the magic of mayonnaise (eggs and oil really) and how you should lightly coat the meat before cooking to help it brown. I also read a tip to sear both sides but then to flip every minute or so to help brown. They came out nicely browned a juicy.
Actually, it is done in France. This a roux, a fancy name for flour mixed with fat, which is the foundation for four out of the five French mother sauces.
Always a good idea to score the outer fat ring on the chops all the way through the fat to the loin. This prevents them from curling in the pan. Awesome dish!
I make a similar dish all the time. Whisk a little Wondra into the sauce to thicken. Stoneground Dijon mustard is also a tasty addition.
Regrettably, mine turned out very dry. Not sure what I did wrong.
Not as good as Real Simple Pork Chops with Mustard Sauce
I made this sauce last night to use with a sous vide pork tenderloin. It was amazing. I did make some changes on the fly. I had a lemon that had been previously zested so I sliced it very thinly and used that instead of lemon juice and zest. I added more garlic and shallot. I thickened it more as I wanted to use it more like a gravy. I added the thyme in when I put in the wine and stock. I will definitely keep this handy!!
Awesome!!! The only minor tweak was that the sauce had no salt, so I added. Really a great recipe! Simple, perfect, delicious!
I added baby Bella mushrooms to the sauce towards the end to soak up the extra sauce and they were fantastic
Made this as directed and found the flavor delicious! I may add a little more flour to thicken the sauce next time.
I used 1-inch thick boneless chops. Seared on the grill direct heat 2 min per side, then cooked over indirect heat for 1.5, then 1 min.
This recipe is hit every time!
Very tasty! We used chicken instead of pork and it was delicious. I recommend serving this over rice or maybe pasta so that you can soak up that yummy sauce.
Absolute winner
Pork piccata - who knew? The flavors are awesome! Now I always use fairly thick center-cut chops: sear them 3 min per side in an oven-proof skillet and then roast at 375 for about 15 min. While they rest, use the skillet for the sauce.
We really enjoyed this. I cut amounts in half-ish as we had two pork chops, but I wouldnt have objected to more sauce, it was delicious, even the next day (I could only eat half my pork shop the first night). Opted for garlic + a bit of finely diced red onion in lieu of shallot as I had it vacuum sealed in the fridge and I'm trying to use it up. I'd put the chops in the sous vide for a couple hours at 150, next time I'll go for three. No hot sauce for us, the lemon-caper sauce was sufficient.
Delicious! Husband & I snarfed! Made as directed but without the hot sauce. May add a little more flour next time to thicken the sauce a bit more. A keeper!
A lot of helpful comments below.
Delicious citrusy sauce is very nice with the pork chops over rice. Great recipe.
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