Juicy pork chops?

[thirdeye]

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".

Yes! My Sam's has those too. They are actually 2-bone thick chops. I do the reverse sear as well. Now, if you see a bone-in pork loin on sale, buy one. A little knife work and you have the same thing at half the price.

 

[jbelson]

Anyone do them on a pellet grill? I have one, also an egg and an offset smoker. Pellet seems easiest for a shorter cook.

 

[Springram]

Harvest Brine from Naturiffic works quite well.

 

[BBQchef33]

I get he center cut chops fomr costco and dry brine for about half an hour-45 minutes..



Then cook far from the heat.. 5-6 inchs over a low fire (or use an deflector).



keep grill closed.... at around 300 until its 130, then drop on grates to get some lines.. pull just below 145 and let it rest for a minute..

 

[ncmoose]

Great suggestions here. One other. Of all the talk about sous vide, the one thing about it is that it has brought pork chops back into my life. I could argue that a reverse is still a better option for a steak but souse vide at somewhere less than 150 and a quick sear in a cast iron skillet has not let me down for pork chops.

 

[Baychilla]

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.

This is the most flavorful (but priciest) approach IME.

 

[Kevin89]

Here's what I do:
1. Light charcoal in vortex for use with cast iron skillet.
2. Season pork chops while waiting (Been using Oakridge Venison and Wild Game from the sampler pack, I found that recommendation by kcmike from search feature)
3. Place cast iron over vortex to heat
4. Add pork chops, sear couple mins each side and temp to 145
5. Rest while finishing sides.

I'm use to having dry pork chops (don't have them often) so when I cut into them took a bite and it was juicy, I thought it was undercooked and I must have temp'd wrong, but I probed multiple spots and therm is accurate. Best pork chops I've had.

 

[Cook]

The suggestions about heritage pork are spot on. There is a big difference in moisture and flavor vs. commodity pork. I would like to see you learn to cook a regular, grocery store chop first. Once you have your technique down, THEN venture into the world of heritage pork. It's more expensive, but it isn't going to break the bank. Paying for really good food every now & then is a good thing.

 

[IamMadMan]

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.

Wayne, the juices are just pouring out of that chop. Looks wonderful !!!!

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.

Awesome chop in that picture, I love the flavor of Yes Dear Sauce on my pork. For me, the Yes Dear Yellow sauce and the new Competition Sauce also adds another great dimension in flavor, especially with the great flavors of the brined cut pork chops.

 

[Ag76]

Wayne, the juices are just pouring out of that chop. Looks wonderful !!!!







Awesome chop in that picture, I love the flavor of Yes Dear Sauce on my pork. For me, the Yes Dear Yellow sauce and the new Competition Sauce also adds another great dimension in flavor, especially with the great flavors of the brined cut pork chops.

The Yes Dear Competition Sauce is very good. I have used it on a pulled chuckie and on that pork chop so far, and really like it. I plan to order another bottle of it, along with a bottle of the Red Sauce and the Yellow Sauce soon. Thanks for letting us know how good it is.

 

[OlyQ]

Sous Vide then sear

 

[mwmac]

I have had excellent results when marinating in mojo criollo!

 

[Smoke Rising]

That chop looks good enough to eat if you ask me!

 

[Big George's BBQ]

I use thirdeye's brine- the lite one and even decrease the salt by a tablespoon and put a little honey in them Always turns out great

 

[jermoQ]

Anyone do them on a pellet grill? I have one, also an egg and an offset smoker. Pellet seems easiest for a shorter cook.

Me. eace::wave:. I like to cook around 300° ish. They dont get food grill Mark's but do have a little smoke flavor. I have also done reverse sear and that works well...just cant easily do that on one grill.

 

[longwayfromhome]

It is ok for me, but for my wife, at 145 in the rest of the chop, the meat along the bone is still in the 130’s. This is not comfortable for her to eat the rest of the chop. Get that to 140 and the rest can be in the 160s. Also, we don’t french the ‘tail’ and love to put a good crisp on the fatty bit.

We try and deal with both these things by standing the chop on its edges sometime during the cook. Mixed results. Any thoughts?

 

[Smoking Piney]

I'll go against the grain here.....

My favorite chops are bone in and sliced thin - a little over 1/2", marinaded in whatever strikes my fancy at the moment, and cooked hot and fast with some wood chips for smoke...no longer than 3 minutes and change a side. They work out to be about 145 when pulled and they've always been juicy with a nice sear with no pink anywhere. :-D

You can eat 2 or 3 of them at a sitting, so I buy the family packs and cook the whole lot.