Brine help.

jimmyinsd said:

my boss just asked me to come up with brine for some pork loin chops. he wants it to be sweet with little heat chaser. it cant be anything overly one way because it will have to be something that will appeal to a large crowd.

i was thinking:
3/4 gallon water
1/4 gallon apple juice
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup salt
some worcherstershire
some cayenne

about 1.5 hours of brine time for an inch chop sound about right?

still thinking....any ideas or other ideas would be appreciated.

thanks

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Only thing I'd probably change is to sub out the wooster for soy sauce instead. I like soy on pork much better than wooster. Other than that, I think it looks like a great brine. However that said, as most brines go, I wouldn't expect a whole bunch of flavor to transfer. You'll get subtle notes, but not big huge flavor from a brine, especially if you wash it off (like you're supposed to) before seasoning and cooking.

why not add some of the sweet and heat in your seasonings to compliment the brine. I dusted some pork chops last night with a commericial rub after brining for the heck of it, and it they came out real nice. The brine helped keep everything moist, but the light dusting of rib rub gave just enough zest to the crust to blend in with the juices when you took a bite.


nice job on the brine and the overall idea.

jimmyinsd said:

thanks for the info, i was thinking i might hit em with a light dusting of coarse ground black pepper, and a little garlic salt right before i grill them. if it was me i would do em indirect with a little cherry wood, but this is a test run for a supper he has to make for the local fire dept and he will only have an open grill to work with.

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add some cherry on direct anyway. a little smoke will go a long way and the chops won't need but a few seconds to pick up some nice smoke flavor. Since it's a trial run, might as well take a stab at it.

jimmyinsd said:

my boss just asked me to come up with brine for some pork loin chops. he wants it to be sweet with little heat chaser. it cant be anything overly one way because it will have to be something that will appeal to a large crowd.

i was thinking:
3/4 gallon water
1/4 gallon apple juice
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup salt
some worcherstershire
some cayenne

about 1.5 hours of brine time for an inch chop sound about right?

still thinking....any ideas or other ideas would be appreciated.

thanks

Click to expand...

That is right on the ratio of salt to water that I use. I weigh my salt in at 6 ounces as sometimes I use kosher and sometimes canning or sea salt. The grain size will throw off measurements when you use cups, 1/2 cups etc.. I go a little less on the sugar but that's not a big deal.

My brine time on 3/4" chops is 2 to 3 hours, and then I rinse and rest in the fridgeat least an hour (2 hours if I have time). The rest is really important. If you cook them to the 145°-150° range, this is what they will look like. This is a rib chop, but the cut is in the loin side.

Skip the water. You can get moisture transfer from any liquid, choose a liquid that also transfers flavor. I generally brine overnight, but will brine for as little as 2 hours if that's all I've got.

A lot of talk about brines only imparting a little flavor. I think they add a lot. The problem is most people don't compared brined meats to a control group, or unbrined meat. Don't brine one of the chops and prepare it the exact same way as the brined chops and have everyone sample a bite from the unbrined one and then their brined ones and ask for the results of that taste test.

ETA: I never use salt in a rub on brined meats. I just soaked the meat in a salt solution. I feel it doesn't need any more salt at that point...

thirdeye said:

That is right on the ratio of salt to water that I use. I weigh my salt in at 6 ounces as sometimes I use kosher and sometimes canning or sea salt. The grain size will throw off measurements when you use cups, 1/2 cups etc.. I go a little less on the sugar but that's not a big deal.

My brine time on 3/4" chops is 2 to 3 hours, and then I rinse and rest in the fridgeat least an hour (2 hours if I have time). The rest is really important. If you cook them to the 145°-150° range, this is what they will look like. This is a rib chop, but the cut is in the loin side.

Here are some boneless loin chops. That juice is a little red because of the paprika in the rub.​

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Dude! Those look perfect!

lookin good love a good chop!!!