November 4, 2009
Dear Friends,
While it's true that today's pork can be so lean it borders on tasteless, there's no need to settle for the status quo.
There are two ways to make sure you'll end up with succulent meat before it hits the pan and a cooking method that helps along the succulence. First, buy chops finely marbled or laced with white fat. That fat is your guarantee of tenderness and flavor. Second, if you've already bought chops that aren't marbled, save the day by brining them. Salt and water brine plumps up meat with moisture. Sugar mellows it out. Hot pepper gives a very subtle spark.
Cooking the meat right is the final step to good-tasting pork, or any lean meat. Get the pan hot with some fat in it. Then sear the chops fast on both sides and immediately lower the heat to medium-low or below. You want to cook them low and slow. And don't take pork beyond an internal temperature of 150 degrees F.
This recipe gives you the basics. Change seasonings however you like; just stick to the cooking technique. While the meat soaks, roast sweet potatoes in the oven and pull together a salad of mixed greens with maybe some dried cranberries and nuts. Give the chops about 10 minutes in a skillet and supper is ready.
Lynne's Tender Pan-Grilled Pork Chops
Serves 4
Brine:
- 1/4 cup kosher salt, or 3 tablespoons regular salt
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground chile, or hot pepper flakes
- 4 cloves garlic, crushed
- 4 1-inch thick pork chops (hopefully well marbled)
Cooking:
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Fresh-ground black pepper
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme, or coriander
- 1/2 medium red onion, thin sliced
1. About an hour before cooking, in a deep stainless steel or glass bowl, blend salt, sugar, chile and garlic with 5 cups ice-cold water. Stir until salt is dissolved. Add chops and refrigerate.
2. Thirty minutes to an hour later, drain pork and pat dry (discard brine). In a large, heavy skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Once hot, add chops. Sprinkle with black pepper. Quickly sear on both sides.
3. Turn heat to medium-low; add herb and onion to pan. Cook 3 minutes per side, or until barely firm when pressed. Internal temperature should be 150 degrees F. Remove chops to a plate and keep warm (they'll need 5 minutes or so to settle and finish cooking).
4. Boil down any pan juices until they are syrupy and scrape them and the onions over the chops. Serve hot.
LYNNE'S TIPS
• Don't be alarmed by the amount of seasonings in the brine. Those measurements aren't typos. You want highly flavored brine. The pork is exposed to it for a short time, so it will not be overpowered by the flavorings.
THOUGHTS FROM LYNNE
Brining is a sound culinary technique that can run amok. The idea is to soak the animal protein in salt water so its cells absorb the salty liquid and plump up, giving juicy tenderness.
Brines go off the rails when we think more is better. Too much time in brine gives you too much salt, rubbery meat and the aftertaste of a pickle.
The easy way to sidestep over-brining is to time according to thickness; that is, how deeply the brine must be absorbed. The system works no matter which brine recipe you are using. Here is my brine time guide. It gives good results every time.
LYNNE'S BRINE TIME GUIDE
Always brine in the refrigerator. Be sure the liquid is ice cold when the food goes into it. When seasoning a brine, overdo it because very little flavor actually permeates the meat, or poultry, or fish. For instance, for 2 quarts of brine, you would want 1/3 cup hot chile powder, or maybe 15 cloves of crushed garlic, or 2 cups fresh basil leaves.
Time Your Brining by Thickness or Weight:
• Anything around an inch thick (pork chops, chicken breasts, etc.): Brine 30 minutes to 2 hours. (Fish is the exception. Its structure is delicate so brine it no more than 30 minutes.)
• Whole chicken and Cornish hens: 1 to 5 hours depending on size (figure 1 hour per pound)
• Turkey (12 to 18 pounds): 12 to 18 hours (figure 1 hour per pound)
• Roasts: 1-1/2 to 2 hours per inch of thickness.
Have a great week,
Lynne
Copyright 2009, Lynne Rossetto Kasper.
All Rights Reserved
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