Melvin's Eats!: Panko Breaded Pork Chops

We have attempted to bread and pan fry meats before, but we have yet to create the masterpiece of breaded fried dinner meat that we crave. In our previous attempts, we have used AP flour and egg, and we have found that the flour/egg dredge never truly sticks to the cut of meat, and instead will just fall off of the meat when you flip it in the pan, or when you are cutting it at the table. This is not ideal.

So this time, we decided to try panko breading. Actually, what inspired the panko breading is the sample stand at the Asian supermarket, where they make fried pork cutlet that is panko breaded, and it is so delicious that I loiter around that sample stand, browsing things I have no interest in buying, just to make sure I can get my fair share of piping hot deliciousness when the lady inevitably yells "FRIED PORK CUTLET" as she's cutting up the samples. I am also a big fan of the dumpling samples, as well as the soup noodles, but that's another story.

This dinner turned out pretty well- the panko did a much better job of sticking to the pork chop, and it also had a much cripser, crunchier texture, which I prefer. The only downside was that the panko burned easily. I am assuming that is because we cooked it in our searing-hot cast iron skillet. This was more of an aesthetic criticism, as the pork chop and breading tasted fine, but just looked a little dark.

We didn't use a recipe, as Melvin's chef just put this together using his incredibly intuitive cooking smarts.

The prep station: scrambled egg wash with pepper and seasonings, de-boned and trimmed marinated pork chops, AP flour, panko

The pork chops were dredged in flour, then egg wash, then panko breading

Left: heating up the cast iron skillet while the yu-choy starts cooking (the block in the center is frozen chicken stock that we add to the veggie); Right: the pork chops are added to the skillet, and garlic is added to the veggie