I began warming up a pan full of vegetable oil and laying out my assembly line. Pork, folded parchment paper, piece of wood, one seasoned egg broken up with a fork and a small package of very buttery crackers crumbled.
Then, it was time to season a pork chop, on both sides, with salt, black pepper and a sprinkle of paprika.
I currently use a regular hammer and a small cedar block which has ribs. Normally, something one would hang in their closet to keep moths away, this little piece of wood is perfect to flatten many meats. I also prefer parchment paper, over plastic wrap, because it doesn't wrinkle as much.
After being flattened, seasoned on both sides with paprika, black pepper and salt the chop was coated in egg wash and squished into the cracker crumbles on both sides.
One pork cutlet was placed into the air fryer and the second, into the hot pan of oil on the stove.
The air fryer was set to 400 degrees for 10 minutes.
The pan-fried pork cooked for 8 minutes, being flipped every two.
After draining the oil from the crispy pan-fried cutlet and being placed side by side the air fryer cutlet... The difference is obvious.
The air fried pork was still undercooked. I decided to close the lid and run it for one more 10 minutes cycle.
In the meantime, I enjoyed the pan fried butter cracker crusted pork cutlet with a quick salad and rice.
By the time the air fried version completed 20 minutes of cooking, I had already completed eating the better version meal.
Lessons learned:
The oil fried, egg wash, butter cracker crusted flattened pork chop cutlet turned out faster, crispier and with much more flavor.
My entire domicile smells like burning crackers, because the air fryer version took so much longer and vented the smells the entire cook.
Some things are just better fried in oil.
I put the air fried version on the same color plate. It was much drier and simply didn't brown as evenly. It lacked the richness that being fried in vegetable oil brings.
Some things are just better fried in oil.
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