brined pork chops

by brendan on August 8, 2006

man, those were some good pork chops! i’ve heard a lot of people talk about the benefits of brining pork chops vs. not brining them for a long time, so i decided to test it myself. the pork chops came out extremely moist and tender and were some of the best chops i’ve ever had, and surprisingly, not very salty. you can take the juices from the roasting pan and create a sauce by putting in a little white wine and reduce it, then adding some butter at the end to thicken it up, but i decided to taste them sauceless, and they were good. . .

the recipe for creating the brine is pretty simple:

1. you start with the base of the brine by combining 2 qts of water, 1/4 cup of salt, and 1/4 cup of sugar in a pot.

2. from that point you can pretty much add whatever else you want to flavor your chops with. i added some crushed garlic cloves, dried chili peppers, and come crushed corriander seeds.

3. bring the whole mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. pour it from the pot into whatever bowl/tupperware you will be using for soaking the chops, and let it sit until it becomes room temperature.

4. take the pork chops of out the fridge, and put them out, uncovered, and let them come to room temperature too (about 15-20 mins).

5. add the pork chops chops to the brine, and refrigerate for at least 24, but more than 48 hours.

6. when you are ready to cook, take the porkchops out of the brine and let them rest on a plate at room temperature for about 25 minutes.

7. pre-heat the oven to 375 (you can also grill these, in which case, you can stop reading now)

8. in a heavy bottomed pan, add some vegetable oil, and put on medium-high heat. once the oil is hot, cook the chops on each side for 2-3 minutes or until brown and then set aside (this can be done in batches if need be – add more oil as needed too).

9. once all the chops have been browned, place them in a roasting pan, and put them in the over for 15-20 minutes based upong the thickness of the chop.

10. once they are done, remove the chops from the roasting pan and set aside.

optional:
11. set roasting pan to straddle both burners on the stove top and turn both burners on medium heat.

12. add 1/2 cup of white wine, and reduce by half.

13. add back any juices that have accumulated from the chops while they have been sitting.

14. add 1-2 teaspoons of butter and remove from heat.

its pretty simple rescipe and it produces some great pork chops. .. . enjoy!

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