Center-cut Pork Chop (Bone-in, Thick Cut)

This is not your grandmother's pork chop. Commodity pork is bred for leanness and speed — what you get is a thin, pale chop that dries out before it finishes cooking and needs breadcrumbs and a long oven to be edible. Ours is the opposite. Pasture raised pork that has lived properly develops real fat, real marbling, and a depth of flavor that makes the comparison almost unfair. The result is a chop that eats like a ribeye steak — rich, juicy, and worth building a celebration around.

The cut itself is a thick bone-in rib chop — a showpiece that looks as good on the plate as it tastes. The loin runs thick and deep, the fat cap bastes the meat as it cooks, and if you're lucky enough to get one with a full baby back rib attached, do your best to decide who gets it without blows.

Cook it simply. Season generously with salt the night before if you can — this is a thick piece of meat and it benefits from time. Get a cast iron screaming hot, add a generous knob of lard or tallow, and sear hard on both sides until deeply crusted. Finish in a 375°F oven until it reaches the doneness you prefer. If you're new to cooking a chop this thick, treat it exactly like a steak — same heat, same instincts, same patience. Let rest a solid five minutes before cutting. The center should have color — blush pink at minimum, and there is no shame in less. That is the difference between a Michelin star pork chop and the dry gray version most Americans have been served their entire lives. The grill works equally well — sear over direct heat, finish indirect. Don't walk away.

Sold individually and priced by weight. Select the size that best suits your table. For reference, a 1.3 lb chop is pictured.

If you are cooking a chop this good, the fat you cook it in matters. Our lard and tallow are both worth keeping in the freezer for exactly this occasion. And if you are building a serious dinner around pasture raised meat, our bone-in ribeye and bone-in skin-on thighs belong on the same table.