Pork is a versatile and nutritious alternative to chicken or beef, lending itself to everything from stir-fries and tacos to gyoza and barbecue sandwiches. Yet when it comes to one of its most recognizable and popular cuts, the humble pork chop, it can also be a bit frustrating.

Because it’s such a lean source of protein, with less marbling than a shoulder cut, pork chops cook pretty quickly. In fact, they’re ready so quickly that it’s super easy to overcook them, resulting in a dish that’s dry, tough and hopelessly chewy.

This Vietnamese American dish from “Top Chef” alum Tu David Phu’s new cookbook, “The Memory of Home,” cracks the code. I’ll go as far to say they might be the easiest and tastiest pork chops I have ever made.
While the chops are pan-fried, they’re first marinated overnight or all day in a savory-sweet mix of fish and oyster sauces, honey, garlic, shallot, lemongrass and five-spice powder.

When the meat hits the hot pan, the marinade — bursting with umami — quickly caramelizes as it cooks, creating both a wonderful char on the chops and a sticky, garlicky sauce to spoon over it. It also helps keep the meat both tender and juicy.

Once the chops are removed, day-old rice is added to the hot pan of pork drippings. As it cooks, it absorbs all the flavor along with any bits of browned pork that stuck to the pan. Fabulous!

I served it, as suggested, sliced across the grain into chop stick-friendly pieces, with cherry tomatoes and thin slices of cucumber.

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Pan-Fried Pork Chops with Fried Rice

INGREDIENTS

For marinade

3 tablespoons fish sauce

3 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon minced shallot

1 teaspoon minced lemongrass

1/4 cup sliced green onions, white and green parts

1 teaspoon five-spice powder

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoons orange marmalade or honey

1 teaspoon sesame oil

For dish

4 bone-in pork shops, cut 1/2-inch thick

2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as vegetable

2 1/2 cups day-old rice

Sliced cucumber and whole cherry tomatoes, for garnish

DIRECTIONS

Combine fish sauce, oyster sauce, ginger, garlic, shallot, lemongrass, green onions, five-spice powder, sugar, marmalade or honey, and sesame oil in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.

Add pork chops to the bowl with the marinade, then give them a 5-minute massage.

Place bowl in fridge and allow to marinate for at least 8 hours or overnight. Half an hour before you plan to start cooking, take the bowl out of the fridge and allow it to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Get started cooking pork chops. Set a large, heavy frying pan over medium heat. Give the pan 3 minutes to heat through, then add in the neutral oil.

Once the oil starts to shimmer, tilt pan away from your body and gently lay in the pork chops. Place each chop in the frying pan starting with the part closest to you so that the pork doesn’t splash oil in your direction.

Fry for 5 minutes on each side, or until they register an internal temperature of 145 degrees on a probe thermometer.

Remove the pan from heat and transfer the chops to a cooling rack or cutting board. Rest them for a couple minutes.

Throw cooked rice into the pan with the drippings so it absorbs them as it cooks.

Keep cooking rice for 5 minutes, or until most of the moisture is absorbed. If it seems too dry, add a splash of water to the pan and let rice cook another minute or until absorbed.

Cut pork against the grain into pieces that you can pick up with chopsticks. Garnish with cucumber and tomato and serve immediately.
Serves 4.

— “The Memory of Taste: Vietnamese American Recipes from Phu Quoc, Oakland and the Spaces Between” by Tu David Phu and Soleil Ho (Random House, $32.50)

Tribune News Service