Lpink, I think it is because for many non observant jews pork is a factor in not eating kosher. My uncle loves bacon every time he eats out, his wife on the other hand still does not have a taste for pork. My boys and I love it. Weed's Dijon Pork is also a great easy way to cook it. Her recipe calls for pork tenderloin but i have always used boneless chops. -Robin p.s. While I do know that Jessy does not cook pork, sometimes she pops in on the non kosher threads just to say that she won't have any suggestions. LOL Weed's Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Dijon Sauce Serves: 2 Prep time: 15 min Cook time: 15 min 1 lb pork tenderloin, cut into 2" slices Seasoned flour 2 Tbl. butter, divided 2 tsp. canola or olive oil Sauce: 2 green onions, sliced (coin shape), white and green parts separated 1/3 cup white wine or dry vermouth 1/2 cup heavy cream 1 tsp. Dijon mustard (or more to taste) salt and pepper to taste Preheat oven to low, about 170 degrees. Lightly pound pork medallions to 1" thick. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 tsp. oil over medium high heat. Dredge pork in seasoned flour. Add all at once to pan and saute 2 minutes per side. Remove to a plate and hold in the oven while finishing the sauce. (pork will be a bit underdone but will finish in the oven.) Add the remaining 1 tablespoon butter to pan. Add white part of onion, saute for 1 minute. Add wine or vermouth, simmer until syrupy and reduced to about 3 tablespoons. Add cream, simmer 2 - 3 minutes until thickened.* Stir in Dijon, add salt and pepper to taste. Return pork to pan to coat with sauce. Serve over rice or pasta, garnishing with the green part of the onion. *If sauce ends up too thick for your liking, add a little water or milk, but no more than 1/4 cup. ** you can double the sauce ingredients so there is enough to pour over white or brown rice  yum!

I agree, the pork steaks have more fat marbling which yields a moister and more tender piece of pork. As LindaC and others noted, today's pork chops are from much leaner pigs, and so overcooking will yield you a tasteless, dry and tough piece of shoe leather that doesn't resemble a pork chop at all in either flavor or consistency. I don't like rare pork, so mine gets cooked all the way through but I'd far rather have a pork steak or pork roast than a chop. Heck, I don't even have Carl cut chops when I have a pig butchered because neither of the girls ever liked them either. And, as Rita noted, they are mostly full of "flavor enhancers" which are really only salt and water, so if you're watching your salt intake it's gonna jack that up there. I do brine loins in apple cider based brine and it adds a nice flavor but it also adds even more salt. Cook them for a much shorter time and they'll be better but they won't ever taste like a pork chop "used to". It's a different variety of animal altogether nowadays, nearly all commercial pork is from Yorkshire or Hampshire hogs, long and lean animals with good feed conversion rates. You can still get "heritage breeds" from local farmers, and you'll get the flavor and texture you used to get, but the small scale raising of hogs is expensive and labor intensive so it'll cost you more and the meat will be fattier than most people have come to expect. Annie

If you insist on cooking pork chops until 160F internal, it is hard to avoid a dry, tough, bland meat. Brining can help, a little. Tricks like cutting a cavity inside the chop and filling it with fat (butter, etc) also helps. Breading the outside won't make the inside less dry, although the flavor of the breading may distract you. My approach is basically: - Brine if I have time - Don't over trim the chop, leave as much fat on as you can. Leave the bone in. - Pat the chop dry with paper towels. Dust it lightly with flour or corn starch if you want it even drier. - Rub the exterior with whatever you find tasty, at minimum salt and pepper - Oil the exterior of the chop - Get your pan as hot as you can. Don't use a non-stick pan or a thin steel or aluminum pan. Use a thick, heavy pan, preferably cast iron. Put it on high flame and walk away for at least 5 minutes. The pan should be smoking, almost scary hot. - Turn the hood fan to high or open the windows. - Drop a big pat of butter on the pan, it should melt and start to smoke and burn almost instantly if the pan is hot enough. - Place the oiled chop on the pool of browning butter. There should be sizzling and spitting. Don't flip, move, pat, or touch the chop. Yes, the chop may be stuck to the pan, ignore that, the sticking will break when the bottom of the chop is crusted enough. - After 2 minutes, remove the chop. The bottom should be brown and starting to get crusty. (These times are a starting point. Depending on your stove, you'll learn if 3 or 1.5 minutes works better than 2.) - Let the pan heat back up for a couple of minutes. Repeat with another big pat of butter and the other side of the chop. - After 1 minute, start measuring the internal temp. At 135F, pull the chop off the pan, to a plate to rest for 5 minutes. The temperature should coast up to the USDA-recommended 145F, or close enough. I cook my chops to 140F or so. I like it still a bit pink, and juicy. The point is that the high heat gets the exterior browning fast, before the interior is overcooked. There are combination baking/pan-frying methods too, which seem like too much trouble. You can also use the broiler - pre-heat the broiler on higj with the upper rack as close to the flame as possible, after you place the chop in the smoking hot pan, drop a pat of butter on the upper side, and place the pan under the broiler. This cooks both sides at once and is a big faster. A cable probe thermometer with a remote display helps. I imagine dcarch now sous-vides his chops?

I made this last weekend and we loved it too. I had homemade applesauce with it. Yum! The best part was that the package of pork had a label on it showing pink pork and a little note indicating that you could now eat pink pork as long as it is cooked to 150. I had to make my Mom read that because she refuses to eat any pork if she sees the slightest hint of pink. This was sooooo tender cooked medium. I loved it. She would only eat the end pieces though. Old habits die hard I guess. The funny thing is that she will only eat her beef very rare so it is strictly a pork thing. And then she always complains that the pork chops I make are too tough. I try to tell her to eat them medium, but noooooo. LOL