On Father’s Day, a pork chop will be fried, from which you can get deliciously juicy with Risto Mikkola’s tips.
The pork chop is served with green beans and mustard seeds. Roni Lehti
Pork chops make a delicious meal for Father’s Day.
Chef Risto Mikkola praises pork as versatile and good meat. When buying meat, pay attention to the fact that the chops have a lot of fat on the edge.
– It is easy to cook if there is fat in the meat, says Mikkola.
If you don’t like the mouthfeel of fat, you can cut it off after frying, but when frying, fat is absolutely important. It keeps the pig juicy, and the meat doesn’t dry out.
Another important tip is not to cook the pork for too long.
– I personally like 60-70 degree meat. If you fry the pork for too long, it will become sticky.
Mikkola wants to put an end to meat fried into dry crumbs. The pig should be juicy and delicious.
Anyone who roasts meat should use a thermometer that shows the internal temperature of the meat. The best result is achieved when the temperature inside the pig is 63–64 degrees. Then the meat is juicy and pink.
Cut a couple of slits in the fat of the chop to prevent the chop from curling up when frying. Roni Lehti
If the temperature rises to 70–75 degrees, according to Mikkola, the meat is already on sticks. Unfortunately, this mistake is made with both pigs and cattle. The official recommendation is that the pork should be at 77 degrees. According to Mikkola, at that point the meat is already spoiled, unless it’s about overcooking.
– Sometimes I get pork meat in front of me, with spices put on the surface and the meat in a 150 degree oven for a good hour. No, not like that, Mikkola shakes his head.
Of course, pork can be cooked in the oven for a long time and with devotion, but then the oven temperature must be low. During slow cooking, the fat on the side melts and makes the meat juicy.
If the kassler steak is fried too quickly, it will become tough.
– I personally stop cooking the Kassler steak at 60 degrees and let it rest so that the liquids inside the steak equalize and the taste improves.
The steaks are served with green, fresh beans and mustard. According to Mikkola, it’s a classic combination: pig and mustard.
– It tastes like salad. This dish makes Father’s Day even better.
Pork chop
4 pork chops
20 g of butter for frying
salt
black pepper
1. Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the chops. Fry on medium heat, gently moving the pan so that the butter does not burn.
2. Bake for about 8–10 minutes and turn the chops 3–4 times. Season with salt and black pepper
Pickled mustard seeds
80 g of mustard seeds
0.5 dl of vinegar
1 dl sugar
1.5 dl of water
2 teaspoons of salt
1. Combine all the ingredients in a pot and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. Let it cool.
Mustard seed beans
200 g of fresh beans
3 tablespoons pickled mustard seeds
1. Boil the beans in salted water for 4 minutes.
2. Pour off the water, add the pickled mustard seeds and mix.
Mustard mayonnaise
250 g of mayonnaise
30 g Dijon mustard
30 g dijon mustard
salt
sugar
pepper
1. Mix all the ingredients together, season and check the taste.
Ironstone Old Vine Zinfandel 2020, USA (€14.98)
A pork chop with a mustard flavor needs juicy and jammy Yankee wine. The wine from California, more specifically from the Lodi region, is made from Zinfandel grapes on old, more than 45-year-old vines and matures in French oak.
For a Zinfandel, this wine is only medium-bodied and the alcohol content remains at a moderate level of 14.5%. Shiraz and Petite Sirah add nuance, both of which contain five percent.
The deep ruby red color already tells you that the wine is rich and warm. You’ll find plenty of sweetness in the taste, and its sweet, jammy finish is colored by a distant smokiness. Sour cherry acids and silky tannins linger in the mouth for a long time.