Juicy pork chops?

jbelson

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Curious as to your tips for juicy pork chops. A lot of times they come out a little dry and flavorless. I've had amazing one's at a couple of steakhouses, but they wont let me in the kitchen to see how they do it.
So how do you get a juicy, flavorful pork chop?
 
Pulling at ~143 usually works for me.

I did a full pork roast and brined for a few hours that was super juicy.
 
All good suggestions above. Commodity pork chops are so lean it's easy to dry them out by overcooking. See if you can find some place that sells heritage pork like Berkshire.
 
Oakridge Game Changer Brine mixed with apple juice.
 
Two things for two reasons...

1) Brining will carry seasoning into the meat. That will give you the flavorful bite you are looking for...especially if you are cooking a double cut, or other thick chop or whole loin. A dry or wet brine will work. Keep in mind that a brine is more about flavor than it is moisture...which is why dry brining works so well. The meat is already full of moisture so a wet brine really can't make it much more moist than it was originally, if at all.

Which brings us to point #2...

2) Don't over cook it! Pork is done & safe at an internal temperature of 145. It will not be pink at that temperature so there is no excuse to cook it beyond that point. If you cook it to 145 it will still be moist. There really is no other trick to it.
 
Great suggestions. Will brining make it too salty though? How long do you brine?
 
You already have them answer but pork chops are my favorite steak to eat so they need to be good. Don't overcook them. Thick cut are the best, use a probe to watch temp till it hits 145, 150 at the most. Brining is awesome too. Adds flavor.
 
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Here is a pic of a pork chop I cooked last night. It was excellent. I did not have time to brine it. Pulled it at 140-145 IT. Basted it with Yes Dear Competition Sauce about 5-10 minutes before I pulled it. There were two in the package and I am going to cook the second one tonight.
 

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Buy chops 1.25 or thicker, the most important thing is not to overcook. A good juicy pork chop cannot be rushed.
 
Great suggestions. Will brining make it too salty though? How long do you brine?

I probably should have answered with more than just one word (brine). :biggrin1: With something like a pork chop or a chicken breast the answer should have been 'flavor brine'. And a flavor brine is not as exact when it comes to measuring as a 'curing brine' you might use for fish or corning a brisket. And a flavor brine only takes a couple of hours. In fact, you could call a flavor brine a shoot-from-the-hip brine.

In a zipper bag, add some water, add some seasoned salt, pepper, maybe a sprinkle of rub, some aromatics, a splash of wine, a smashed clove of garlic.... about anything. Then add the chops and put in the fridge for 2 hours.

Grill until that 140°-145° range and enjoy. Here is what you should wind up with.

DSC03400a.jpg
 
My basic brine for Pork and Poultry is one cup Morton's Kosher Salt to one gallon water for the ratio, meaning you can reduce to 1/2 cup Kosher Salt to 1/2 gallon water for smaller batches of brine. Add light brown sugar if you want a hint of sweetness but do not exceed more than 1/2 of your salt (e.g. 1/2 cup salt means 1/4 cup or less sugar.

Dissolve the salt completely in a bowl, and I use two-gallon zip lock bags to soak in the refrigerator. A good guideline for soaking time is about one hour per pound. A big bone in pork chop might take a little longer than the same size boneless loin chop.

Sam's Club by my house recently started carrying giant bone-in ribeye Pork Chops weighing about 2.3 pounds each. Great fun to brine and then reverse sear on my Webber 26".
 
Hope you are buying bone in...like pictured above. The loin chops you often see aat the store...need to be brined and not overcooked.
 
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