Perfectly Juicy Pork Chops
I am always on the hunt for that impressive but foolproof date night meal. You know, the one you can cook with enough confidence that you won’t completely mess it up but that will garner more praise than a jar of Prego + Barilla. My go-to has always been charcuterie. Elaborate charcuterie. Or “picada” as we call it in Argentina. But these chops are date night perfection. This recipe is adapted from Adventures in Cooking (who has much more convincing photos).
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Have you ever wondered how to make pork chops tender? What separates the salty-yet-slightly-sweet chop that you can cut with a butter knife from the dry, stringy chop cooked stovetop? I’ll tell you a secret… it has nothing to do with cooking time or method and everything to do with brining. Yep. Brining. Basically soaking the chops in salty water overnight before you cook them.
Funny story about the foolproof date night meal though… I got very comfortable with these chops a couple of years ago. This method works on just about any chop (pork, wild boar, venison) and I make these chops on the reg when a special date night meal is required, or sometimes just for friends that I like to spoil. Each time, without fail, the chops come out perfectly. Tender, juicy, salty, and slightly sweet. It is a thing of beauty… until the fire alarm goes off.
As it turns out, my beautiful Valley House kitchen has no stove hood. There is a fan, sure, and from the sound it produces, I am pretty sure it generates enough power to launch a Boeing 747. But the steam and smoke the fan intakes… where does it go? Straight into the cabinet just above the stove where I house my extensive tea collection. In other words, it does not exit the house.
So there I am with a nice glass of wine, my guest looking at me expectantly, with some ambiance and chill vibes to spare, when all hell breaks loose and the atmosphere in the room goes from elegant to tornado drill in under 3 seconds. Smoke billowing out of the oven (even though nothing is burning); cats zooming around the house at speeds unknown to light and sound. And a frenzied attempt by me and my befuddled guest to open every window and door in the house. Recently, I have taken to opening the patio door in advance and rushing steaming chops and other smoking cooking endeavors out to the deck to rest for a few moments before sliding them back into the oven… this seems to cut down on the smoke a bit. Either way, I am likely going to need to invest in a kitchen hood in the next several years. These chops are that good.
what you need
2 large bone-in, thick cut pork chops
1/4 cup salt
Black pepper
Several clusters of red grapes still on the stem, the larger the better
(optional) 1 tablespoon olive oil
(optional) 1 table spoon balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, or Tamari
For best results, use cast iron skillet
how to make it
The night before (!): Place chops in deep dish or water-tight bag along with enough room-temperature water to cover them. Add a ton of salt and mix a bit until it dissolves. Let chops brine overnight in the fridge.
The day of: Preheat oven to 400. Once heated, toss the grapes (little clusters; 5-8 grapes per stem) in the olive oil, and vinegar or soy, place them on a piece of tinfoil and roast them in the oven until the skins begin to shrivel and split, ~20 minutes. Remove the grapes and set aside.
Now start heating your cast iron skillet stovetop. High heat. We want to sear these chops well.
Remove the chops from the brine, rinse them, and pat them dry with paper towels. You can sprinkle them with a bit of olive oil and black pepper if you wish but they do not need any more salt at this point. The brine took care of that.
Once the pan is hot (flick some water in it to see if it sizzles and to make an interesting cooking show for your guest), place both chops in the skillet. You want to place them and let them rest where they landed – do not pat them down, do not move them around. The searing occurs on the meat’s first contact with the pan. Put them in the skillet and leave them alone. Sear for 3-4 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of your chops.
Then get ready to transfer the chops to the oven. If you are using locally-sourced chops (I get mine from Longstone Farm), chances are they’ve got a good bit of fat on them which has begun to collect in the skillet (you can pour this out if you want the chops to smoke less in the oven). If you’re using store-bought chops and the skillet is dry, now would be the time to throw in a tablespoon of butter. I will occasionally add a splash of white wine and some sprigs of rosemary as well if I have them on hand and feel a little fancy.
Flip the chops a second time and then transfer all this to the oven. The cooking time here depends on the thickness of your chops and it is best to have a meat thermometer on hand. You want the internal temperature of the chop to reach 145 degrees which usually takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes. Due to the brining, you’ve got a little room to overcook the chops but not much, so watch them carefully. It is normal for the pan to smoke as the butter/fat in the skillet burns off – this does not mean the chops are burning.
You can also cook the chops on the grill, in the cast iron or direct #openflame
Serve with grapes on stems placed on top.
I like to accompany the chops with a green vegetable like crispy roasted brussels sprouts or blanched asparagus. It also does well with a simple arugula salad. The pork meat becomes very salty in the brining process so pairing it with a darker, more bitter green vegetable is a good call.
Also, plums, apples, or peaches may be used in addition to or in lieu of the grapes. The sweetness of these fruits pairs well with the salty pork, but plum skin can become bitter and they are difficult to find when not in season, hence my predilection towards the grapes. I once made a plum and black currant reduction (supa fancy) that accompanied the chops beautifully but it was a little labor intensive.
