Any pork chop advice?

[hammerz_nailz]

The local grocery has center cut bone in pork chops on sale and I'd like to grill some tonight. They usually come out kind of tough and a little dry whenever I do chops. I'll be doing them on my Weber kettle.
Any suggestions?

 

[Jorge]

The local grocery has center cut bone in pork chops on sale and I'd like to grill some tonight. They usually come out kind of tough and a little dry whenever I do chops. I'll be doing them on my Weber kettle.
Any suggestions?

Hard to say without know how thick they are.

In general, pork purchased from a grocer has become so lean that I cook them hot and fast and get them off the heat ASAP. Meaning I'll pull them before they are done, tent with foil, and let them rest while they continue to cook.

Some basic salt and pepper is always good to start. A lot of dried herbs can pair well with pork as well. If you choose a seasoning that might be a little to spicy, you can cut that with some turbinado sugar sprinkled lightly over the chops when you tent them.

 

[Adaboy]

You can brine the chops for a couple hours as well to keep moist and juicy.

 

[landarc]

You could give them a quick hour or two in a brine, I like to put a rub with salt, black pepper, chile powder and brown sugar on them. wrap tightly and let them sit for 2 hours. Then grill hot, offset heat then remove when medium rare and cover with foil to rest. Eat at medium.

 

[hammerz_nailz]

They generally run 3/4" to 1" thick.
Thanks Jorge, Adaboy, landarc.

 

[Gore]

What Bob and Jorge said. Brining helps a lot. Most critical is not to overcook though. Take them off medium rare and eat at medium. I season mine simply with Lawrys, pepper and parsley, both sides.

 

[aquablue22]

What they said, brine them for as long as possible and them rub them in something sweet and spicy and smoke them with a little cherry wood..........

 

[El Toro]

High heat for a really good char at first, then lower to medium heat to finish and don't take them past medium.

Carlos

 

[Strike BBQ]

If cooking all the way and not brining, just drop a couple pats of butter on them a few minutes prior to pulling off the grill.

 

[Wampus]

Yeah, my wife is so paranoid of eating undercooked pork (PANSY!) that she constantly cooks chops until they are like shoe leather.

As stated above, take them off when you think they're not done yet. They'll finish up fine with residual heat cooking.

I like Jorge's suggestion about the simple seasoning with a few herbs. Rosemary goes great with pork.


Man......I'm hungry now.:becky:

 

[sfbbqguy]

Yep, what they ^^^ said about taking off grill when not quite done then wrap in foil and let finish. They'll come out real good even un-brined. It may be a little hotter than some but I usually take mine to 140* internal then foil for a few minutes.
We eat a lot of pork as it's a bit less pricey it's lean and you can flavor it up in many ways too. Herby, tangy, fruity, spicey it all works pretty good with a nice pork chop.
Good luck.

 

[dannypat21]

What Bob and Jorge said. Brining helps a lot. Most critical is not to overcook though. Take them off medium rare and eat at medium. I season mine simply with Lawrys, pepper and parsley, both sides.

What Gore said. Pork chops not overcooked are juicy and delicious. Now if I can just convince the older generation in my family that pork doesn't have to be cooked for hours to be safe to eat.

 

[Saiko]

Personally, I brine in a brown sugar / kosher salt solution for about 8 hours and grill and pull when internal hits 150. Anything over 150 and lean pork will get tough and chewy even with a brine. Internal of 140 will give you some pink without a warm rest, which makes some peeps a little nervous with pork. If I was just making them for myself I'd prolly go with 140 and a short rest, but with others involved I go with 150.

 

[TactTm1]

Qucik Prep and Cooking: make a marinade of olive oil, soy, whats-this-here-sauce, salt and pepper, tabasco and some red pepper flakes. Let the chops sit in this for as long as you can 15 min to 2 hours.

Grill them hot over indirect and after you make the turn, put a slice of pineapple or apple on top and sprinkle with some more pepper flakes (just a bit).

Unlike me, please pull them BEFORE they are overcooked around 140ish, tent them and they will get to a nice rosey pink by the time you get situated in the kitchen and sit down to eat.

********************
Words spoken by my wife and heard through my fence about twice a week: "That sure looks nice...I bet it is overcooked though.:drama:

 

[hammerz_nailz]

Thanks for the tips everybody!

This was the first time I've done pork chops since getting a Thermapen. I pulled them at 140/145 and tented for about 10 mins and they were great.

Didn't exactly grill them though ...more like fried.

I found a recipe that called for covering the chops with grated parm, then egg, then bread crumbs. I put a little olive oil in a carbon steel pan directly over the coals and cooked them about 6-7 minutes a side to 140ish. Threw a few cherry chips on the fire too just for a little smoke.

They were fork tender ...amazing.

 

[imaisufan]

Lots of great advice about not cooking too long. I like to marinade my bone-in chops in Zesty Italian salad dressing and hit with some kosher salt and fresh ground pepper right when I put them on the grill.

 

[TactTm1]

Sounds like panneed pork!! Bet that bit of smoke made those delicious!

*****************************************************

Second most words spoken by my wife and heard through my backyard fence:

I don't care how accurate it is, we're not spending a hundred dollars on a thermometer, whatever color it is either!!

 

[bigabyte]

I like to get them 1-1/2 inches thick, offset my lump coals in the grill, and start the chops offset on one side for roughly 9 minutes, flip, and cook on the other side for roughly 9 mintues. The internal temp should be 100* at this point. Then I put over direct heat for about 90 to 120 seconds each side to sear in some grill marks and finish. It should be 140* when done. Let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes and dig in. It has never failed for me before.