- 1 day ago
In honor of the Bourdain biopic ‘Tony,’ we’re giving one of Anthony Bourdain’s iconic recipes a spin! In this video, Chef John shows you how to make Anthony Bourdain's Pork Chop Sandwich. Thin pork cutlets are marinated in a flavorful sauce and fried until crispy, either the boneless or pan-fried version, into a rich, golden cooked pork fillet in this Macau-style sandwich. Top it with sambal chili sauce or a chili sauce butter mixture, depending on which version you make, and enjoy!
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Anthony Bourdain's Pork Chop Sandwich.
00:09That's right, there's a Bourdain biopic coming out called Tony.
00:13And to celebrate, I'm going to show you my version of his version of Macau's famous Pork Chop Sandwich,
00:19which Bourdain described as possibly the most delicious thing in his cookbook.
00:23And I now fully understand why he said that.
00:26And to get started, we'll go ahead and put together the marinade.
00:28Which starts with a whole bunch of garlic, followed by some brown sugar, some Chinese five-spice powder, plus a
00:36little bit of sesame oil.
00:38And then we're also going to need some soy sauce, as well as some Chinese black vinegar,
00:43which if you can't find, you can use a combo of half rice vinegar, half balsamic vinegar.
00:48And then we'll finish up with some Chinese rice wine.
00:51And if you can't find that, you can use some sake.
00:54And as usual, we'll give you all these substitutions in the written recipe.
00:58And what we'll do is give that a quick mix and set it aside while we prep our pork chops.
01:04And what we want to use here is about a six or seven ounce bone-in rib chop, which is
01:09basically the ribeye steak for pork.
01:11And yes, we're leaving the bone-in.
01:14And then as far as trimming goes, this one was pretty well-trimmed.
01:18But there's a little chunk of fat in this area that I do like to trim out.
01:22And once that's removed, what we're going to do is take our knife, and we're going to cut in about
01:27one inch,
01:28all the way around the edge of the chop, through that little bit of a membrane that was holding on
01:32the fat.
01:33And we'll make like five or six cuts all the way around, which not only makes this look cooler,
01:38but it's also going to guarantee our pork chop stays flat when we cook it.
01:42Which, by the way, we're doing two different ways.
01:45All right, one like the version Bourdain fell in love with in Macau.
01:48And then we'll do the crispy breaded version that appears in his cookbook.
01:52And while we're doing this, if a little bit of fat separates, we can go ahead and trim it off
01:57like you see me do in here.
01:59And that's it for the trimming.
02:00And we can move on to do a little bit of pounding, which you can do with one of these
02:04tools,
02:05or just use the bottom of a heavy pan or pot.
02:09And after we flatten that out to about a quarter inch or so, we'll go ahead and transfer this into
02:13a zip-top bag.
02:14And I'm only showing one, but I did that to four chops total.
02:18And yes, you always want to put your bag in a bowl in case there's any leaks,
02:22which if you use a bowl never happens.
02:25But if you don't, for some reason, it always happens.
02:28And that's it.
02:29We'll go ahead and pour in our marinade.
02:31And we will seal the bag while pushing out most of the air.
02:35And then to make sure our chops are evenly coated with the marinade,
02:38let's go ahead and massage it for about a minute.
02:40And of course, while this is marinating, it's not a bad idea to do that again and maybe flip the
02:45bag a few times.
02:47And what we'll do is pop that in the fridge for anywhere between 1 and 12 hours.
02:51Or at least that's what Bourdain has in his cookbook.
02:53All right, I think the ideal marination time is about 8 to 10 hours.
02:57So you decide.
02:59And then next up, I'm going to show you one optional condiment for this,
03:02which is going to be some soft room temp butter that I mix with some sambal chili sauce.
03:07Okay, I think the authentic versions are just served as is,
03:10or maybe with a little bit of just the sauce over the top.
03:13But since they butter the Portuguese-style rolls they serve it on,
03:17I thought I would mix the butter and the chili sauce together,
03:20which I'm going to apply to the top later.
03:22And by the way, my butter was a little too cold.
03:24So I'm going to let this warm up on the counter a bit and then give it another mix before
03:28I serve.
03:29And that's it.
03:30When we're ready to make a sandwich, we'll pull our pork out of the marinade
03:33and we will dry it off very, very thoroughly on some paper towels.
03:38And we'll want to make sure there's none of that garlic stuck to the surface,
03:40since that will burn in the oil.
03:43And once our pork chop's nice and dry,
03:45for the first version, we're going to shallow fry this in a pan in some vegetable oil,
03:49which I heated to 350 degrees over medium-high heat.
03:54And then once I carefully place my pork chop in, I turn the heat down to medium.
03:58And we will fry that for about 3-4 minutes per side, or until it's done to your liking.
04:04Oh, and I don't show it because it's ugly,
04:06but I was definitely using a splatter guard over the top of the pan between shots.
04:10And speaking of splattering, as long as you only turn this once, it's not going to be too bad.
04:15But you know me, I love to turn things.
04:17So when I turned that back over to take a look at the other side,
04:20it started to splatter a lot more.
04:23So I did it again.
04:25I know, I just can't help myself.
04:27And because of the sugar and the vinegar in the marinade,
04:30we are going to get some fairly dark caramelization in spots.
04:33Which, don't worry, is not a problem.
04:35And it's going to taste great.
04:37But anyway, once that's cooked through and looking beautiful,
04:40we'll go ahead and pull that out of the pan.
04:42And we'll let that rest on a plate for just a couple minutes while we make our toast.
04:46And I'm using some nice Japanese-style milk bread.
04:49But Bourdain just used regular white toast.
04:51And that's also going to work out fine.
04:53But anyway, we'll top that with our fry chop.
04:56And we'll drizzle over any and all accumulated juices.
04:59Oh no, you can't throw those away.
05:02And once that was done, I topped this with my sambal butter.
05:05Plus a few fresh cilantro leaves.
05:07Which is not done in the authentic version.
05:10Or Anthony Bourdain's version.
05:12But I like them, so I did it.
05:13And after taking way too many pictures, I grabbed a knife.
05:17And I spread some of that butter on my top toast.
05:20As well as over the top of the chop.
05:22And as you might imagine, I was extremely excited at this point.
05:26Since this looked and smelled fantastic.
05:28And once I had that properly buttered, I grabbed a big serrated knife.
05:31And I cut this in half.
05:33Slicing parallel to the bone.
05:35Oh yeah, pro tip.
05:37Do not try to cut through the bone.
05:38And then I went ahead and stacked the two halves.
05:41Just like a food blogger would have done.
05:42Back in 2012.
05:45Since as everybody knows, Bourdain loved food bloggers.
05:49But anyway, I finally took a bite.
05:51Which was nothing short of magnificence.
05:54Right, the meat was very flavorful.
05:56And beautifully tender.
05:57And because we didn't overcook it, it was still nice and moist.
06:00And I really did enjoy that sambal butter on this.
06:03Which as I mentioned, is not traditional and optional.
06:07So you decide.
06:08I mean, you are after all the Tony Bourdain.
06:10Of whether to enjoy it like this or plain.
06:13But I do think he would have enjoyed it.
06:16And of course, after we finish this.
06:17We get to gnaw on that bone for dessert.
06:20Which is always a great way to finish a meal.
06:22And while this one used Bourdain's marinade.
06:25And toasted bread delivery system.
06:27The cooking method we used.
06:29Where the chop is simply pan fried.
06:31Is basically how they do it in Macau.
06:33Whereas Bourdain's version in the cookbook.
06:35Is actually breaded before it's fried crispy.
06:38Which is what I'm going to show you next.
06:39And then we'll talk about which one was better.
06:42And what we'll do first.
06:43After we pat that pork chop dry.
06:45To season it on both sides with salt.
06:48After which we will sprinkle it on both sides with flour.
06:51And with the first version.
06:52I thought the soy would provide enough salt.
06:55And it almost did.
06:56But I thought it needed a little more seasoning.
06:58So I made the adjustment.
07:00Oh and yes.
07:01For this crispy breaded fried version.
07:03I did slice off the bone.
07:05Which is going to make this easier and safer to eat.
07:08And once our pork is seasoned and floured.
07:10What we'll do is pour over one beaten egg.
07:13And we'll keep flipping that over until it's evenly coated.
07:16And when I'm just breading one or two things.
07:18I like this do it on a plate method.
07:20Instead of setting up the three pan breading station.
07:23Alright I think it's just easier.
07:25And once that's coated in egg.
07:27We'll place that on top of a plate of panko breadcrumbs.
07:30And we'll sprinkle some more over the top.
07:33And then we'll press those firmly into both sides.
07:35And don't be afraid to use a little pressure here.
07:38Alright those panko breadcrumbs are nice and sharp.
07:40And the more we drive those into the surface of the meat.
07:43The better and crispier this is going to come out.
07:46And that's it.
07:47We'll shake off the excess and transfer that onto a clean plate.
07:50At which point I like to pop it in the fridge for at least 15 or 20 minutes.
07:54So that that breading really adheres.
07:56Although you can if you want just fry immediately.
07:59But either way.
08:00We'll heat our oil to 350 degrees again.
08:02Over medium high heat.
08:04And once that's in we'll reduce our heat to medium.
08:07And we'll fry this for about 3 minutes per side.
08:10Or until it's beautifully golden brown and crispy.
08:13And cooked through.
08:14And then I pulled that out of the pan.
08:16Onto a paper towel lined plate.
08:18And then onto a slice of toasted milk bread.
08:21And then because this version was fried.
08:24And I did not think I needed the butter here.
08:26I just applied some straight samba to the top.
08:29Along with my probably highly controversial cilantro leaves.
08:33And I went ahead and topped that and sliced in half.
08:36And that my friends I must admit.
08:38Was the superior version.
08:40And I remember when I first heard about this.
08:42I was a little bit confused.
08:44Since the sandwich Tony fell in love with in Macau.
08:47Was not breaded before it was fried.
08:49So I was wondering why the version in his cookbook was.
08:52But then I remembered.
08:53Anthony Bourdain had a fetish for fried foods.
08:56And was crazy for cutlets.
08:58So it all really does make sense.
09:00Especially after you taste this version.
09:02Right?
09:02The big flavors.
09:03The incredible texture.
09:05This really was insanely good.
09:07Although if you do take the bone out and fry it like this.
09:10You don't get to have bone for dessert.
09:12Like I had with the first one.
09:14But whether you do the boneless version from the cookbook.
09:17Or the pan fried version that's bony.
09:19In honor of Tony.
09:21I really do hope you give this a try soon.
09:24So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts.
09:27A printable written recipe and much more info as usual.
09:30And as always, enjoy.
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