Pork Chops, Reverse-Seared

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in pork rib chops, 1 1/2 inches thick (about 12 oz each)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as grapeseed
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• Flaky sea salt, for finishing

Method

1. Season the chops all over with the salt and pepper at least 45 minutes ahead. Overnight, uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator, is better. Salt needs time to get past the surface, and there is no version of this where you get that time back later.
2. Preheat the oven to 250°F (120°C) with a rack in the center. Set the chops on a wire rack over a rimmed sheet pan so hot air reaches every side.
3. Roast 35 to 50 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer in the center of a chop, away from the bone, reads 115°F (46°C). Thickness drives the time, not the clock. The thermometer is the recipe here.
4. Understand what the low oven is doing while you wait: it walks the entire chop up to temperature at nearly the same rate, so you get pink all the way to the edge instead of a gray overcooked band under the crust. The sear at the end is for crust, and nothing else.
5. Pull the chops and rest them on the rack for 10 minutes. Then pat every surface bone dry with paper towels. A wet chop steams. A dry chop browns. That is the whole difference.
6. Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over high heat until it shimmers and just barely begins to smoke.
7. Sear the chops 60 to 90 seconds per side, until a deep brown crust forms. Work in two batches if all four will not sit with space between them — crowding drops the pan temperature and you trade your crust for steam.
8. Drop the heat to medium and add the butter, thyme, rosemary, and garlic. Tilt the pan toward you and spoon the foaming butter over the chops continuously for 45 to 60 seconds. Then stand each chop on its edge with tongs and sear the fat cap for 30 seconds.
9. Pull the chops when the center reads 140°F to 145°F (60°C to 63°C). Carryover will add about 5 degrees while they rest, so pulling at 145 in the pan means eating at 150 — hit the low end and trust it.
10. Rest 5 minutes on a board, then finish with flaky salt and a spoonful of the herb butter from the pan.
11. Slice the meat off the bone and cut against the grain, or serve whole on the bone. Either way, look at the cross-section — that even color from edge to center is what the extra hour bought you.