STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS WITH PICTURES

You will need some boneless pork chop (1/2 inch thick slaps). Get a sharp knife to make some cuts on the thin layer of fat around the edge of the pork chop. This will prevent the silver skin from shrinking and the meat will not bulge up while cooking. You could remove the silver skin and the fat but I like to keep it for more flavor.

Use the back of your knife to slightly hit the meat. This will break down the tough meat fibers so the pork will come out tender. Porkchop is very lean. If you don’t tenderize it correctly, it becomes tough, chewy, and dry. Make sure you switch the angle and run your knife over again. Flip the pork and do the same thing to the other side.

Marinate the pork chop with 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 1.5 tsp of paprika, 1 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 1/2 tsp of ginger powder (you can also use fresh garlic and ginger if you prefer), and 1/2 cup of buttermilk. This is a fusion recipe that is originally come from Vienna during the shanghai international settlement time so don’t be surprised that we are using buttermilk.

The marinade looks very liquid. Don’t worry. Just let it rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours; overnight will be even better. 2 hours later, you will see that most of the liquid is gone. That is the secret to a juicy pork chop. You have to give it enough time for the pork to absorb the moisture.

Add 3 tbsp of all-purpose flour. Mix well. A thin layer of batter will help to catch more coating.

Speak about the coating, it is a little bit special. Mix 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour with 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of white pepper, and 1 tbsp of baking powder. Slowly drizzle in 2-3 tbsp of water and stir at the same time. We want to create some small little lumps. Rub the flour in between your hands to make the lumps even. This is my secret. These flour bits will attach to the pork and create an extra crispy layer.

Use a fork to pick up a piece of pork and put it in the flour. Then berry the pork and give it a few solid presses. Shake off the excess flour and set it aside on a rack. Continue to coat the next piece of pork. A fork is very helpful here because you don’t need to touch the wet pork with your bare hand.

Once you have coated all the pork, let it rest for 15 minutes so the dry flour has enough time to bond together and it will fall off less when deep frying. You could let the pork rest on a flat board, but the flour clumps on the bottom side will compact together and loss some of the fluffiness.

During this time, you can heat your oil to 360 F. I can only fry 2 pieces at a time because I don’t like to crow the wok otherwise it will drop down the temperature too fast, which is a risk of drying out the pork. This will take 6-8 minutes or you can go by the color. Once the outside is perfectly golden, you can take it out.