Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - How I looked like a cooking God this weekend

embo · 05-09-2004, 03:59 PM

Yay, my first post to TFP.

This weekend was a family get together for a college graduation. I offered to bring some stuff to cook for Saturday.

- I bought 9 thick cut (nearly 1" thick) center cut pork chops from the local Sam's Club. Our Sam's has a meat department, so these were very fresh (it helps to live in Iowa, where the pork is very high quality).

- Got them home, and made a brine:

1 gallon of HOT water
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 crushed cloves of garlic
2 slices of white onion
2 slices of red onion

And fair amounts of these spices:

fresh ground pepper
hickory smoke salt
oregano
thyme
parsley
dill
a dash of cayenne pepper

I know this sounds like a lot of work, but really I just grabbed stuff that I had lying around...I didn't plan out the onion or the spices. I just took what we had available. Translation: This is easy to do, and pretty hard to screw up.

- You should do the brine in HOT water because the salt and sugar will dissolve better into the water.

- Once I added the spices, etc., I added another half gallon of ice. I could have let it cool in the fridge, but I was in a hurry. Either way, remember two things: 1) The ice added some extra water. Bear that in mind with how much of the salt & sugar I added above. I.e., if you're not adding ice, scale back a little on the salt & sugar. AND, 2) You want to make sure the brine is nice and cold when you put the meat into it.

- Then I rinsed the meat a little, and put it right into the brine. Then I put it in the fridge and let it sit there for 24 hours.

Fast forward one day. Time to grill.

- I took the meat out of the brine. Don't rinse it! Just pat dry if you want. You'll notice that the meat is probably nice and plump since it has sucked up a lot of that flavored water it's been soaking in for the last day.

- Now to the grill. I use a technique I learned from Alton Brown. I throw the meat on the grill, and cook 2 minutes, twist, cook 2 more minutes, flip, 2 more minutes, twist, then 2 more minutes. Then I repeat the entire process on the warming rack inside the grill. If they need a little more after this, just leave them on the top rack for a little while more to cook them through. These were 1" thick chops, so they took a little longer. Never, ever, ever poke the meat or cut it in any way! You'll lose those great tasting juices. Also, since the meat is so full of juices from the brining, you can leave them on the grill a little longer anyway without worrying about it drying out.

- At any rate, after they were done grilling, I let them "rest" for 5 minutes (this is crucial, in my opinion). Then it was time to eat. I had 3 people tell me they were the best chops they had ever had, including my Dad, who is a pork farmer.

So, there you go...an easy recipe for brining and grilling. You'll look like a hero. Go forth unto the world and grill!

(You can also do this with chicken, and there are other seasonings you can put into your brines)

05-09-2004, 03:59 PM	#1 (permalink)
embo Upright	How I looked like a cooking God this weekend Yay, my first post to TFP. This weekend was a family get together for a college graduation. I offered to bring some stuff to cook for Saturday. - I bought 9 thick cut (nearly 1" thick) center cut pork chops from the local Sam's Club. Our Sam's has a meat department, so these were very fresh (it helps to live in Iowa, where the pork is very high quality). - Got them home, and made a brine: 1 gallon of HOT water 1 cup kosher salt 1 cup brown sugar 2 crushed cloves of garlic 2 slices of white onion 2 slices of red onion And fair amounts of these spices: fresh ground pepper hickory smoke salt oregano thyme parsley dill a dash of cayenne pepper I know this sounds like a lot of work, but really I just grabbed stuff that I had lying around...I didn't plan out the onion or the spices. I just took what we had available. Translation: This is easy to do, and pretty hard to screw up. - You should do the brine in HOT water because the salt and sugar will dissolve better into the water. - Once I added the spices, etc., I added another half gallon of ice. I could have let it cool in the fridge, but I was in a hurry. Either way, remember two things: 1) The ice added some extra water. Bear that in mind with how much of the salt & sugar I added above. I.e., if you're not adding ice, scale back a little on the salt & sugar. AND, 2) You want to make sure the brine is nice and cold when you put the meat into it. - Then I rinsed the meat a little, and put it right into the brine. Then I put it in the fridge and let it sit there for 24 hours. Fast forward one day. Time to grill. - I took the meat out of the brine. Don't rinse it! Just pat dry if you want. You'll notice that the meat is probably nice and plump since it has sucked up a lot of that flavored water it's been soaking in for the last day. - Now to the grill. I use a technique I learned from Alton Brown. I throw the meat on the grill, and cook 2 minutes, twist, cook 2 more minutes, flip, 2 more minutes, twist, then 2 more minutes. Then I repeat the entire process on the warming rack inside the grill. If they need a little more after this, just leave them on the top rack for a little while more to cook them through. These were 1" thick chops, so they took a little longer. Never, ever, ever poke the meat or cut it in any way! You'll lose those great tasting juices. Also, since the meat is so full of juices from the brining, you can leave them on the grill a little longer anyway without worrying about it drying out. - At any rate, after they were done grilling, I let them "rest" for 5 minutes (this is crucial, in my opinion). Then it was time to eat. I had 3 people tell me they were the best chops they had ever had, including my Dad, who is a pork farmer. So, there you go...an easy recipe for brining and grilling. You'll look like a hero. Go forth unto the world and grill! (You can also do this with chicken, and there are other seasonings you can put into your brines)