Don’t panic about pork chops, Delia! They’re still on the menu

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Pork chops. If there was one gripe that I’d have thought Delia Smith had with the eating habits of my generation (I’m 30, straddling the millennial v Gen Z divide) I wouldn’t have picked the fact that we, apparently, no longer eat pork chops.
In an interview with The Sunday Times at the weekend, the icon of Eighties and Nineties kitchens lamented the fact that “young people don’t know what a good pork chop is like”.
I’d have chosen my generation’s insistence on serving hot sauce with everything or their love of air fryers. Or that the popularity of social media recipe videos means that for people my age opening a real cookbook is becoming as rare as drinking real cow’s milk — and I am sure Smith has thoughts on that.
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But I would like to use this opportunity to come to my peers’ defence. Admittedly my generation do eat a lot less meat, but like lots of people I know, I adore pork chops. I grew up eating them, cooked by my mum or grandma and served with mashed potatoes, sage and apple sauce (inspired by one of Smith’s recipes) or wild mushrooms and crème fraîche (another of her classics).
The reality is that pork chops have moved on from the kind in the “how to boil an egg” era. Out: thin, bony, chewy, dry pork chops that remind you of wartime food. In: mouthwateringly juicy, fatty chops grilled over flames, like the one I ate this summer at the Devonshire in Soho, London’s most talked-about gastropub. Or the thick-cut mangalitza pork chop from the Quality Chop House in Farringdon, which opened in 1869 and specialises in chops. And I can’t not mention the Tamworth pork chop with clams and French fries I ate a few months ago at Orasay, the Notting Hill restaurant by Jackson Boxer, the pin-up chef of my generation.
But then again, in the same interview Smith also admitted she’s not a regular on London’s restaurant scene, so how would she know. “When I sit in the back of a taxi in London and see all these new restaurants — hundreds of them — I think, ‘I don’t know anything about that kind of food,’” she said. “I think I’m a bit behind the times.”
So don’t panic, Delia. Pork chops are still in fashion. We still think they are delicious. And there are far more frustrating things my peers do in the kitchen for you to get annoyed by (just wait until you go on TikTok). But if there are those of you out there who are perplexed by what to do with a pork chop, these recipes should help.
Serves 2
Ingredients
• 2 Mangalitza pork chops, 4cm thick
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 90C. Use a sharp knife to remove the rind from the pork chop but leave on the thick layer of fat — you’ll be rendering it down and the resulting hot fat means you can caramelise the meat perfectly.
2. Score the fat. Place a dry frying pan over low heat and lay the chop in the pan, fat-side down, to render for 10 min. You should end up with a good centimetre of cooked fat on the chop, as well as about a centimetre of hot pork fat in the pan. Increase to medium-high heat. Lay the chop in the pan and cook it for 2 min on each side; you want to turn the chop 4 times — so, cook one side for 1 min, turn, cook the other side for 1 min, turn and repeat. You should have a deep, caramelised crust on both sides after these 4 turns.
3. Remove from the heat and take it out of the pan. Rest for 3–4 min, then pop it into the preheated oven to cook for 10–15 min. Rest for another 10 min and serve. It will cut like butter and eat like butter — and the fat will be insanely delicious.
Quality Chop House by Will Lander, Shaun Searley, Dan Morgenthau (Quadrille, £30), Photography © Andrew Montgomery
Serves 2
Ingredients
• 2 tbsp olive oil• 2 banana shallots, finely diced• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped• 1 tbsp rosemary leaves, finely chopped• 2 x 400g tins cannellini beans, rinsed and drained• 100ml vegetable or chicken stock• 100ml double cream• 30g parmesan, finely grated• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon• 2 pork loin steaks (180g each)• 1 tsp thyme leaves• 100g cavolo nero, stalks removed• 3 tbsp water• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium sauté pan over medium heat. Add the shallots and sauté for 2–3 min to soften. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook, stirring, for 2 min then tip in the cannellini beans and pour in the stock. Cook for 3–4 min or until most of the stock is absorbed.
2. Stir through the cream, grated Parmesan and lemon zest and season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for a couple of minutes or until the sauce is thickened. Mash the beans roughly with a potato masher and set aside.
3. Place a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat and add the remaining olive oil. Score the fat on the pork steaks. Sprinkle the steaks on both sides with the thyme and salt and pepper.
4. Add the steaks to the pan, holding them fat side down with a pair of tongs for 1–2 min to render the fat until it turns golden and crispy. Then lay each pork steak down flat in the pan and cook for 2–3 min on each side, depending on thickness. Remove to a warm plate and leave to rest for a few minutes.
5. Meanwhile, place the pan back over high heat and add the cavolo nero with the water. Sauté until the cavolo is tender and the water is totally reduced. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Gently heat the cannellini bean mash if necessary and divide between warmed serving plates. Place the pork steaks on the plates, spooning over any resting juices, and pile the cavolo alongside.
Extract taken from Real Life Recipes by Tom Kerridge (Bloomsbury Absolute, £26 Hardback) Photography © Cristian Barnett
Serves 6
Ingredients
• 6 thick-cut pork chops• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pommes Parisienne
• 500g potatoes, peeled and scooped out with a melon baller• Knob of butter• 6 sprigs of thyme, 2 leaves picked, 4 left whole• 500ml veal jus• 4 garlic cloves, chopped• 1 shallot, finely sliced• 100g chestnuts, chopped
Method
1. To make the pommes Parisienne, place the potato balls in a large frying pan and sprinkle with a splash of cold water and the butter. Sprinkle over the thyme leaves.
2. Add half of the veal jus to the potatoes and simmer.
3. In a separate pan, add the remaining jus, the garlic, shallot and thyme sprigs. Cook until the jus has reduced by half. Pour over the potatoes to create a glaze. Sprinkle over the chopped chestnuts.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the grill to high.
5. Place the pork chops on a baking tray and season. Cook under the grill for 6 min, turn and grill for a further 6 min.
6. Serve the potatoes as a garnish to the pork and drizzle with any remaining glaze from the pan.
Potato by James Martin (Quadrille, £23)
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the pork chop
• 1-2 chicory heads (depending on size)• A very small pinch of extra fine capers• 6 chopped cornichons• A handful of chopped curly parsley, stems removed• Handful of sorrel leaves• 4 pork chops, approximately 200g each, skin on• Salt and pepper
For the vinaigrette (makes 800ml)
• 125g Dijon mustard• 125ml white wine vinegar• 525ml extra virgin olive oil• Juice of half a lemon• 1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced• Sea salt and black pepper
Method1. Make the vinaigrette by mixing the mustard and vinegar slowly. Once they are combined, begin to whisk as you slowly trickle in the olive oil. The mixture should emulsify. Add the lemon juice, garlic and seasoning.
2. Cut the chicory into quarters lengthways and dress with the vinaigrette, capers, cornichons, parsley and sorrel.
3. Bring the chops to room temperature and season boldly with salt and pepper. Bring a heavy-based frying pan to medium/high heat and place the chops skin-side down, cooking until the fat starts to render and the skin starts to crackle. You should now have a pool of pork fat in the pan. Increase the heat and cook for approximately 4-5 min on both sides until golden brown. Set aside and allow to rest for a further 5 minutes.
4. Pour the resting juices over the top and serve alongside the chicory salad.stjohnrestaurant.com