A pan fried pork fillet is a fillet of it’s the simplest form. An upgrade from the generic chicken or Tukey fillet, so cheap, yet so tasty. This recipe focused on some of the most important issues that you will have while cooking pork.
tl:dr; thin 1cm fillets, where the fat that covers it is pierced so that it stays flat, marinated(dried herbs, salt, pepper, garlic, paprika) and pounded thin, cooked in high heat so that the juices stay there and let rest
In detail, here are the things that you need to know:
- The most important part about pork fillets is that when they are cooked, they do not stay flat. Before you do anything, you need to slice horizontally the fat that covers it. The fat and the meat are connected with the sinue skin that tightens when you cook it, so if we pierce that, the fillet will stay flat. This applies generally to all meats.
- Pork filets, tend to be very dry because they do not have much fat content. To tackle that, we either cook them in a juicy low simmer sauce or in high heat for not a lot of time. If you cut them thin (say 1cm) they will cook very very fast.
- Pork fillets are tough, as such you need to damage the connective tissue mechanically. Also, usually, they are not perfectly even all around. To tackle this we need to pound the fillet. Think tenderize, not pulverize – you do not need to open holes in the meat.
Let’s get cooking: the recipe follows:
- Slice the sinue horizontally to keep the fillets flat
- Marinate with salt, pepper, paprika, dried oregano, and dried garlic
- Pound the fillets thin
- Add a bit of olive oil to them, massage it all around, and let them sit for a couple of minutes.
- In hot pan in medium-high heat, add a bit of olive oil
- Throw in the fillets, but do not overcrowd the pan
- Cook for 3-4 minutes each side
- Let them sit for the time they cooked.
Serve this pan-fried pork fillet with a side of vegetables and a great spinach and halloumi salad. As always, follow us on Instagram.
