I subscribe to Bon Apetit magazine. Every month a new magazine full of beautiful pictures and recipes I almost never make arrives at my door. But this time there were two recipes that I decided I was going to follow through on and make.

They had a special this month they called “Father’s Day Pork Chops”. The recipe was accompanied by a charming story about how these pork chops reminded the writer of his parents and felt like home. So, I wanted to get down on that. Give them a go. And the results? Lovely.

I never cook with thyme. No particular reason other than I don’t really know what to do with it. It wasn’t a staple in the cooking I did with my parents growing up. We’re more basil/oregano/spicy kind of people. Thyme feels kind of old world and classic to me. So, I was excited to see this recipe and have an excuse to use the dried thyme that has been in my spice cabinet for an unknown amount of time. (I imagine I must have got it for a Thanksgiving turkey or something.)

This recipe also called for marinating the pork chops for an hour in red wine vinegar. I had never heard of such a thing, but it was supposed to help it tenderize. Not only did it do that, but it gave the pork a wonderful tang that just made sense.

Now, as always, I didn’t really follow all the directions in this recipe. I’m going to put the recipe here as it was originally written, but here are a few changes I made, and they were still awesome. Also, the recipe is written out as a fun thing to get kids cooking with parents and obviously, I made these and didn’t hand over any of the tasks to stray children running about.

So, my changes. First, I didn’t have fresh thyme and oregano. So, instead of a Tablespoon of each, I used a heaping half teaspoon of each dried. Also, I didn’t have enough red wine vinegar for the marinade, so I used half red and half white vinegar. I felt justified in this change because the article said that his mom used to use white vinegar, but his wife had stepped up the class by using the red instead. I also used 3 boneless pork chops instead of 2 large bone-in ones. Other than that, I was pretty spot on.

These form a great crisp surface. And, it turns out that I loved the flavor of thyme! I’ll have to start incorporating it more into dinner plans. I served these with some roasted rosemary potatoes and roasted carrots with sage. I was all herbed up and it was very tasty.

Father’s Day Pork Chops- by Bon Apetit

Ingredients

• 2 bone-in pork chops (about 2 pounds total), pounded to 1/2″ thickness
• 1 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• Zest from half a lemon
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
• 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

• Arrange pork in a single layer in a large baking dish and cover with vinegar. Let sit 1 hour at room temperature.
• Set up your dredging stations: one small baking dish with flour; one with eggs; and one with panko, zest, thyme, and oregano.

• Heat a large cast-iron or heavy nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 3 tablespoons olive oil. Season each chop generously with salt and pepper. Have the kids use a fork to dredge each chop first in the flour, then in the egg, then in the panko mixture; make sure they coat the sides as well as the tops and bottoms, as every inch of crust is cru- cial. Then have the kids hand them over to Mom (or whoever is cooking) so she can put them into the hot oil. Working in 2 batches, cook pork chops—wiping out skillet with a paper towel after the first batch and adding the remaining 3 tablespoons oil—until crispy and cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.

A super easy weeknight dinner. Enjoy!