Decadent date night duck fat fries need a lean protein to balance things out. Sous vide pork chops come out perfectly juicy every time. Serve with a simple salad to complete the picture.

Time: 4/5
Some low and slow, before it gets fast and furious

Effort: 4/5
Frying is most decidedly not a passive or hands-off process

Duck Fat Fries Are Where It’s At

Regular readers will know how much I like the sous vide stick I got second-hand for 50 bucks. It’s a foolproof and hands-off way to cook a lot of lean protein at once. Plus, once you’re done you have a big pot of hot water that can be brought to a boil (for example, to cook macaroni for some pickle juice pasta salad).

It’s this synergistic one-two punch that makes me come back to it time and again. However, the only protein that ever got the SV treatment in my house was chicken (with one rare exception being this delightful sous vide salmon) because of an unfortunate experience where a pork loin I cooked at 60C/140F and it tasted a bit too … avant garde compared to what we’re used to.

But never fear, the grocer store clearance sale is here! Seeing these bone-in pork loin chops at a bargain price gave me the kick I needed to get out of my comfort zone again. So once again, I venture out into the unknown.

My cast iron skillets have been sitting in my cupboard for quite a while now, and I don’t want them to feel neglected. The thickness of loin chops lend themselves naturally to an SV-and-sear protocol, and according to Kenji the bone actually adds extra flavour when cooked sous vide.

Pork chops don’t reheat very well though, especially if they’re a lean cut like loin. That means they aren’t the greatest for meal prepping, but nothing stops me from making them the best supporting character of a lazy Saturday date night.

That’s right, I said supporting character. That’s because the lean pork is here to cover nutritional bases while saving the calories to make space for these amazing home fries to come into play. We had duck legs confit a couple months ago, which came packed in a huge block of duck fat. The excess fat has been sitting in a glass box in my fridge the entire time, waiting for their chance to shine. 

What can I say? Duck fat is delicious, potatoes are delicious, well-seasoned potatoes fried until crisp in duck fat are exponentially more delicious than either alone. Make yourself some duck fat fries.

Think About the Flow

I don’t have much to say about duck fat fries that haven’t been said before. However, I will add that you can make a meal come together much more conveniently if you give some thought to when and how you cook the other parts.

Considering the fries in isolation, I’m very curious how they would turn out if I tried something like Adam Ragusea’s oven fry method. But since I am cooking the loin chops sous vide, that means I can pull the hot SV water trick and parboil my potatoes before frying.

Another process consideration is how to keep everything warm before I’m ready to serve. Date night at home sometimes suffers from the side dishes getting cold by the time the main course is ready, because you’re doing things yourself. Sometimes this isn’t a problem, for example when the main course is a big lamb shank that will stay warm just fine. But fries don’t stay good for that long.

I’m happy to report that I was able to circumvent this problem. By making the duck fat fries first, I could use the leftover fat to sear the loin chops while I kept the fries warm in a low oven. The pork was served right on the same skillets used to cook them, and the retained heat kept them warm long into the meal.

It was a pretty good dinner. First time working with a new ingredient, tried out some tricks that worked well. It’s small wins and successes like these that you accumulate that leads to confidence and competence in the kitchen, and I feel proud of what I accomplished that night.

Dramatis Personae

Served two.

3 small potatoes, about 500g

Scrubbed well and wedged. The skin is delicious and nutritious, and I leave it on. 500g is a bit more than I would usually portion for two, but hey it’s date night! It’s time to live a little.

Salt the water well when you par-boil to season them from within, and add a splash of vinegar as well. The acidity helps prevent the pectin that holds the potato cells together from breaking apart, so the pieces are less likely to fall apart.

I don’t get the same potato varieties here as in the States where most of my readers are from. These were neither fall-apart starchy or very waxy, so I guess they’re closer to Yukon Golds. I wouldn’t know though, as I’ve never had one before.

Duck fat, about 4 tablespoons

My skillets are about 5 inches across, so 2 tablespoons just about magaed to coat the bottoms of each. You might need more than that if your pan is bigger, and the potatoes might dry up and p ask for more fat as they fry. 

Two 1.5 inch bone-in loin chops, about 150g each

Whenever I work with a new ingredient, I like to season things simply until I build enough familiarity with it to play around. 3g of salt, a few cranks of black pepper and two crushed cloves of garlic went into the bag before an SV bath for 1.5 hours at 66C / 150F, then they got seared in the same duck fat I fried the potatoes in. In retrospect, we might have liked them cooked at 65C or 64C. But this was a great first attempt and I’m happy with the result.

Gravy

I thought I would be smart and make a quick gravy by deglazing the skillet after searing the pork, then thickening the results with a slurry made with two teaspoons each of corn starch and Better than Bouillon.

I’d describe the results as being too many steps in the right direction. Two teaspoons of corn starch is way too much thickening power, and two teaspoons of BTB is too salty.

The problems could have been avoided if I added the slurry bit by bit and tasted as I went, but alas I did not. Let this be a reminder that it’s easy to add more of an ingredient to a dish, but it is difficult (and sometimes impossible) to take it away.

The gravy also turned out a bit too dark in colour than I liked. Since I planned on serving the pork chops in the black skillet, I wanted some contrast in colour. A splash of cream whitened up the gravy, and went a long way towards improving the presentation.

Cherry tomatoes, about 200g

Washed and halved. Cherry tomatoes seem to be more consistently tasty compared to larger varieties, and a reliable choice for raw applications such as this one.

Cucumbers – 3 small, about 200g

Washed and cubed. I splurged on these fancy, smooth cucumbers rather than the usual big and spiny ones. Partly for the appearance, but also because one big cucumber is a bit too much for two people to finish in one sitting (pun unintended).

Pickled peppers – a couple

Since I got the pickle jar out here for the juice anyway, I thought I might as well include some of the peppers as well. Ended up being a good decision, the pickles were delightful little briny, juicy bursts of flavour.

Dressing

The pickle juice and mayo dressing that I made for my recent pasta salad left a deep impression, and I wanted to see how it would do in a conventional dressing. So it’s a couple tablespoons each of pickle brine and olive oil, whisked together with a tiny bit of mustard to act as the emulsifier. Last but not least I gave it some pepper but no salt, because the pickle brine takes care of the salinity.

Executive summary

1. Place defrosted loin chops in a sous vide bag, along with the seasonings. SV for 1.5 hours at 66C / 150F. If cooking from frozen, add an hour to cooking time.
2. While waiting for pork to SV, whisk dressing ingredients together in a bit mixing bowl. Store in fridge.
3. Wash and cut salad vegetables. Add to mixing bowl and toss to coat.
4. Take some of the hot SV water and bring it to boil in a pot. Add plenty of salt and a bit of vinegar.
5. Scrub potatoes well and cut into wedges. Simmer in the salty vinegar water for about 10 minutes, or until tender but not falling apart.
6. Drain potatoes, and allow to steam off and cook on a parchment paper and foil lined baking tray.
7. Put things away and do some cleanup, then take a break until pork is done SVing. Heat oven on its lowest temperature.
8. When pork is almost done, melt duck fat in cast iron skillet and fry potato wedges on all sides until lightly browned.
9. While potatoes are frying, extract loin chops from SV bag and pat dry.
10. Once potatoes are done, transfer them onto the baking sheet and get them in the low oven. Sear loin chops on all sides, including the sides.
11. Let loin chops rest in the low oven next to the potatoes. Deglaze skillet with a splash of water, and add gravy slurry. Simmer until thickened.
12. Assemble and serve.

Play by Play

Last things first. The pork takes the longest, so in it goes. Instead of massaging it through the bag like I do with chicken, I used the bag kinda like a glove to rub the two chops together to minimise the risk of the bone puncturing the plastic.

Onwards to the salad, which can sit in the fridge while we make everything else. I don’t stress about the vegetables losing their crunch if they sit in the dressing for too long – I like them slightly softened, and this way they pick up more flavour.

Cherry tomatoes into halves, cucumbers into half moons, and pickled peppers into a rough dice.

Mix it up and adjust for seasoning, then it can sit in the fridge until we’re ready to eat.

The SV water should be at target temperature by now. Borrow some of that and bring it to a boil, salt and acidify, then simmer potatoes until barely done. Here’s the first thing I’m proud of – I usually overcook the potatoes until they’re falling apart, but I managed to pull them early enough this time.

Letting the potatoes cool off. I’ll be using this sheet tray later anyway, so might as well leave the potatoes here instead of dirtying another dish.

The unfortunate disaster that was the BTB slurry. That’s way too much corn starch in way too little water, and you can see all the lumps that simply can’t dissolve into the heavily saturated liquid. If you do this, halve the solids and/or double the water.

Once the potatoes are par-boiled and the salad is in the fridge, you can just leave the pork in the SV water bath and walk away. Do some dishes, fold the laundry, clean the place up. When it’s time to eat, take the loin chops out and pat them dry with some paper towels.

My skillets are small, so I’m doing one serving in each. Smaller skillets actually end up needing less oil, which is nice. Here’s my second success – not burning the potatoes. They cook by a bit more even after taking them off the heat, so allow for some carry over browning. Between the salt and the duck fat, they’ll be plenty delicious even at a light blonde. No need to get too zealous.

The oven has been preheating on the lowest setting since I started frying. The potato wedges can hang out in there while I work on the pork.

There was plenty of duck fat left in my pan, but you might want to add some more depending on your exact situation. Sear fast and hard on both sides, and don’t forget to give some love to the fat cap along the side because that’s the best part.

I need the skillets for the sauce, so I need to make space. The oven should be low enough to keep the pork chops warm without cooking them further, since air is a relatively poor conductor of heat.

Splash of water into each skillet, plus a vigorous scraping with the spatula to deglaze, followed by the BTB slurry. Here’s where I made the split second decision to add the cream – light brown looks much better than dark brown on a black skillet.

Time to plate up! I like the balance here – between the macronutrients, colours, decadence and freshness.

Played it safe the first time round, but the temperature I like best would probably be closer to 64C than 66C. Juicy nonetheless, especially if I get a bit of the fat cap in a bite.

Everything pales in comparison to the potatoes! Crisp and savoury on the outside, fluffy and smooth on the inside, well salted throughout by the saltwater blanche. You gotta cut them nice and thick to get the right texture. Bon appetite!

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