Sous Vide Pork Chops

Equipment Needed:

• Waterproof Bag (Ziploc, Vacuum Sealer, or a reusable one such as a Stasher Bag)
• Sous Vide (We love the Anova immersion circulator)
• Large Pot or Container for Water
• Skillet or Pan for Searing (Pick a size that will be crowded once the chops are flat in the pan)

Ingredients:

• Pork Chops (we prefer thick cut and bone in)
• Seasoning Salt
• Butter
• Fresh or Dried Herbs
• Garlic (optional)

Instructions:

1. Set up your Sous Vide water bath. Fill a large pot with water and attach your Sous Vide according to your devices instructions. Set the temperature to 142° F. (Tip: To be more energy efficient, wrap your water bath in a large towel to help retain heat)
2. Pat your pork chops dry with a paper towel and season both sides. We love to use our 'Tis the Season Salt or McCormick® Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Otherwise, good old fashioned salt and pepper should do the trick!
3. Place your pork chops, a pat of butter, garlic, and herbs into your bag of choice. We like to use the stasher bags because they are reusable! A Ziploc bag will work just as well. If you have a vacuum sealing system, you can vacuum seal your ingredients. We love to do this when we find pork chops on sale. We season them, vacuum seal them, and then freeze them for later!
4. If you did not vacuum seal your chops, use the water displacement method to remove air from the bags and seal them. To do this, slowly lower the bag into your water bath with a corner left unzipped. When you reach the top and almost all of the air is removed, seal the bag. Be mindful of the water at this point, 142° F water is quite hot.
5. Set a time for 90 minutes, shorter is fine but this has worked well even it they are straight from the freezer.
6. Take a break!
7. When they are finished cooking, remove the bags from the water bath. At this point it is important to let the meat cool and stop cooking before the sear. If you don't, they will keep cooking past 142° F in the pan. While still in the bag, I usually run them under cold water for 30 seconds per side to speed things up and then remove the meat form the bag and pat dry. While the pan heats up, the chops will cool down enough!
8. Heat a cast iron skillet or pan over high heat. Once the pan is obviously hot, add butter or oil and new herbs (if desired) and set the chops in the pan. Sear all sides of the pork chops for about 90 seconds seconds, or until nice and golden in color. while you are searing, use a spoon to baste your pork chops with the melted butter in the pan or swirl the pan to get the meat in contact with the hot butter or oil.
9. Remove pork chops from the pan and let them rest on a cutting board for 1-2 minutes before cutting. Enjoy!

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