Get:- 1" thick boneless center cut chops, 0.5lbs per person
- kosher salt for brine
- peppercorns, rosemary, sage
Do: - Mix 1 tbsp kosher salt per 1 cup filtered water, to cover
- Add brine flavorings (peppercorns, rosemary, sage, honey, whatever) and mix
- place chops in bowl and cover with brine (doesn't have to be heated)
- Let stand in refrigerator 2 hours
- Remove chops, rinse thoroughly under cold water
- Baste chops with olive oil, rosemary, pepper. NOT salt.
- Grill 1 minute per side on medium-high grill heat, for stripes
- Reduce direct heat to low
- Set indirect heat so that grill reaches 375', cover
- Turn every 3 minutes, maybe 12 minutes total
- Chops are done when they are "slightly firm", not squooshy anymore
- Cook (supposedly) to middle temperature of 145', although I didn't really do this
Results: - These chops were the boneless 1" thick chops from the safeway meat counter, and they seemed basically the same as the ones from Zonotto's
- When I grilled for about 10 minutes instead of 12, they were alllmost underdone. The "squishyness" test seemed like a reasonable way to evaluate.
- Two to three hours of brining is good. When I brined for 24+ hours they were still slightly too salty, so it would have been good to lighten up on the brine.
- Once instead of grilling I used the oven, and cooked to temperature with a probe straight through the middle of the thickest chop. I took the chops out at 135'F and within two minutes the temperature had risen to 145.
- At 145 the chops were barely faint pink in the middle. I think they could have stood to come out much sooner. If cooking to temperature again, I'd try 128'F next time or something.
Previous results: - I served with a black-beans-and-tomatoes-and-chili-and-shallot goo mixture that robey liked.
- I added bourbon to the chops after they came out of the brine. The flavor was strong and distinctive, so only do this if you want "bourbon chops". It's not subtle, and it didn't particularly complement the rosemary.
- One of my chops was a little thicker than the other, so they ended up cooking kind of unevenly.
- I think I would cook them slower next time--- like at 300' or less, for longer. I didn't try the thermometer, but I did slice through the thinner chop when I thought it was done (by the squooshy test) and it looked under-done. I put it back on.
- When they first came off the grill they looked pretty good, or even undercooked. But by the time we ate them, they stopped looking pink and started to look cooked.
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