Seared Pork Chop with Blood Orange and Shaved Fennel Salad

So I know its been a minute since my last post but I was on vacation! In Miami! Woooooo! Okay, so maybe I'm from Miami, but I never let that stop me from pretending like I'm not. After working a few hours more than usual, I wasn't really in the mood to make something too elaborate or complicated - so this is something more in the style of what I would do on a regular night.

Yeah, right when I got back, my brand new polyscience immersion circulator was waiting for me... so as tired as I was, obviously I had to play with it. This also came with a super cheap copy of "modernist cuisine at home" which I was happily flipping through as I decided what I was going to make over the next few days. I came across the epic roast chicken, which after speaking with Myhrvold at Harvard's Science + Cooking lecture series knew had to be "Roided Up" with saline solution (his words, not mine) - so I had a few medical syringes on hand. I knew I felt like cooking a pork chop and looked at his temp. table for pork chop which had a little note saying "should brine first". After just viewing the roast chicken dish and staring at a pack of needles I thought: ...well obviously.

Sous Vide Pork Chop
1 pork chop
50g water
20g butter
3g salt
2g ras al hanout
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 bay leaf
salt

Dissolve the salt in the water and inject into the pork chop with this solution basically until you give up (I used around 30ml). Vacuum pack the remaining ingredients along with the pork chop and cook sous vide for approx. 1 hour at 136F for medium rare. Chill in an ice bath and reserve. 

Shaved Blood Orange and Fennel Salad
1 blood orange
100g fennel

Shave the Fennel into very thin slices using a mandolin and reserve. Segment the blood orange as above and reserve as well.

To Complete 
reserved pork chop
reserved fennel
reserved blood orange segments
canola oil
olive oil
spicy thai bitters
parsley leaves
fleur de sel
cubeb pepper
lime juice

Heat a thin film of canola oil until very hot and smoking. Sear the pork chop on each side for one minute. Let rest for 3-5 minutes (depending on your level of hunger at this point). Meanwhile, combine a drizzle of olive oil, a light squeeze of lime juice, the blood orange segments, shaved fennel, a few parsley leaves, a bit of fleur de sel, 10 drops of thai bitters, and a few grinds of cubeb pepper and toss until lightly dressed. After the pork chop has rested, separate it off of the bone and slice. Arrange the slices back along the length of the bone. Add the salad to the plate and Voila! 

Dinner. Is. Served.
Tomorrow I'll tell you about that roast chicken - hint: its epic.