How to Make the Best Pork Chop
The secret to a terrific pork chop is a tasty brine. Like a marinade, a brine will uniformly infuse the chop with flavor — in this case, salt, garlic, pepper, Bay leaf and rosemary. It softens the meat, and helps it hold onto its juices throughout cooking. Here we’ve added brown sugar to the brine, too. On the grill, it caramelizes, giving the pork chop a lightly sweet, aromatic bark.
Recipe - ST. LOUIS PARK (+Wines & Spirits)
How to Make the Best Pork Chop
Prep Time5 Minutes
Servings4
Cook Time22 Minutes
Ingredients
2 cups water
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup of kosher salt
2 cloves garlic
¼ teaspoon black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs rosemary
3 cups ice cubes
2 to 4 Frenched, double cut Berkshire pork chops
2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 sprigs thyme
Directions
- In a stainless steel pot, combine water, brown sugar, salt, garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf and rosemary sprigs and bring to a boil. 2. Remove the pot from the heat and stir the liquid to dissolve the salt.
- Stir in 3 cups of ice and allow the brine to cool completely.
- In a baking dish or food-safe plastic container, cover the pork chops completely in the brine. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or the lid and refrigerate overnight.
- Heat a grill or grill pan to high heat. Heat the oven to 350 F.
- Remove the pork chops from the brine and pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Drizzle the pork chops with grapeseed oil and place them on the grill. Cook for 3 minutes and then turn them 45 degrees and cook for another 3 minutes. (This will give you cool, crosshatched grill marks.)
- Flip the pork chops over and cook the second side according to step 6.
- If using a grill, transfer the pork chops to a baking pan. Top each pork chop with one tablespoon butter and two thyme sprigs.
- Bake the pork chops in the oven until the meat is done, about 10 minutes. The temperature should reach a minimum of 135 F on an instant-read thermometer.
5 minutes
Prep Time
22 minutes
Cook Time
4
Servings
Shop Ingredients
Makes 4 servings
L&B Spring Water, 20 Ounce
$0.99$0.05/oz
Crystal Light Brown Sugar, 2 Pound
$3.79$1.90/lb
Morton Coarse Kosher Salt, 3 Pound
$5.99$2.00/lb
Fresh Garlic Bulb, 0.2 Pound
$1.40 avg/ea$6.99/lb
L&B Black Tellicherry Peppercorns Refill, 2.1 Ounce
$7.99$3.80/oz
L&B Bay Leaves, 0.1 Ounce
Deal
$5.52 was $6.49$55.20/oz
L&B Fresh Rosemary, 0.75 Ounce
$3.49$4.65/oz
Ace Ice Purefect Ice Cubes, 5 Pound
$2.69$0.54/lb
Berkwood Farms Berkshire Pork Bone-In Pork Rib Chops, 0.5 Pound
$7.50 avg/ea$14.99/lb
L&B Grapeseed Oil, 16.9 Ounce
$5.49$0.32/oz
Minnesota Creamery Unsalted Butter, 1 Pound
$4.99$4.99/lb
L&B Fresh Thyme, 0.75 Ounce
$3.49$4.65/oz
Directions
- In a stainless steel pot, combine water, brown sugar, salt, garlic cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf and rosemary sprigs and bring to a boil. 2. Remove the pot from the heat and stir the liquid to dissolve the salt.
- Stir in 3 cups of ice and allow the brine to cool completely.
- In a baking dish or food-safe plastic container, cover the pork chops completely in the brine. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or the lid and refrigerate overnight.
- Heat a grill or grill pan to high heat. Heat the oven to 350 F.
- Remove the pork chops from the brine and pat them dry with a paper towel.
- Drizzle the pork chops with grapeseed oil and place them on the grill. Cook for 3 minutes and then turn them 45 degrees and cook for another 3 minutes. (This will give you cool, crosshatched grill marks.)
- Flip the pork chops over and cook the second side according to step 6.
- If using a grill, transfer the pork chops to a baking pan. Top each pork chop with one tablespoon butter and two thyme sprigs.
- Bake the pork chops in the oven until the meat is done, about 10 minutes. The temperature should reach a minimum of 135 F on an instant-read thermometer.