How do you prevent the flour/cornstarch in pork chops from falling off after pan-frying and still be crunchy?

I coat my pork chops with cornstarch with seasonings (salt, five-spice, etc.) before pan frying. After pan-frying, the coatings easily fell of from the pork chops. How do you prevent the coating from falling off and at the same time, make it crunchy?

pork-chops

Best Answer

Usually, the pattern for getting coating to stick is dry/wet/dry.

Here's the pattern that I've followed (especially from Cook's Illustrated crunchy pork chop recipies) -

Pat dry the meat with paper towel, then score the meat in a cross-hatched grid pattern, and season well.
Next dredge the chops in plain cornstarch, shake off excess.
Next dip in the liquid (buttermilk flavored with garlic and Dijon mustard for me, beaten egg would be another option).
Next dredge in seasoned coating (ground corn flakes with more cornstarch, salt and pepper for me, or cornstarch with whatever spices/seasonings you want).
Then you let it sit on a wire rack for 10. This allows the coating to "set."

For the cornflake coating, this holds onto the pork chop incredibly well. Not sure if that would work as well with cornstarch as the outer coating, but I think the concept would hold.

Here's a place that posted the recipe (Cook's Illustrated keeps most recipes behind a paywall, but this is the same one):

Mens Place: Crispy Pan Fried Pork Chops

Pictures about "How do you prevent the flour/cornstarch in pork chops from falling off after pan-frying and still be crunchy?"

How do you prevent the flour/cornstarch in pork chops from falling off after pan-frying and still be crunchy? - From above arrangement of red heart shapes placed on blue background with THANK YOU NURSES inscription

How do you prevent the flour/cornstarch in pork chops from falling off after pan-frying and still be crunchy? - From above yummy steaks and meat sausages roasting on grill grid near organic capsicum during picnic

How do you prevent the flour/cornstarch in pork chops from falling off after pan-frying and still be crunchy? - Cooked Food

How do you keep breading from coming off pork chops?

Soak the meat in buttermilk. You can also use milk or a seasoned milk mixture. Let it sit for at least a half hour.

How do you stick flour to fry pork chops?

How do you get breading to stick to pork chops? Breading sticks to the natural moisture of the pork chop. The egg dip holds the breading on the meat and allows a second dip in the breading. The double breading process allows for the best coating that is sure to stick to the meat.

How do you keep the crust on pork chops?

To get the breading to stick to the chops, they will be quickly dredged in flour and then dipped in egg. The flour egg mixture really helps the bread crumbs stick! Dab the pork chops with a paper towel to absorb the extra moisture. (This also helps the egg mixture to stick.)

What happens to cornstarch when fried?

Fried Dishes Cornstarch will create a crisper coating that will hold up to sauces better and will absorb less of the frying oil (leading to a lower-fat meal). Make sure you have a light, even coating of cornstarch on the food you're frying. Heavier coatings can get gummy.

how to fry the perfect pork chop

Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Images: Karolina Grabowska, Karolina Grabowska, Dids, Artem Savchenko