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Saturday, October 30, 2010

Pork Chops

Today I got 4 thick bone in pork chops, brussel sprouts, apples, and beets.
I started off by making a brine. I mixed together a gallon of water, a cup of salt, black pepper, lemon peel, coriander seeds, thyme, rosemary, fennel seeds, honey, and Worcestershire sauce. I boiled this and then chilled it to at least 40 degrees F. Then I added the pork chops. I let the pork chops sit in the brine over night. Brines should taste like ocean water that has been slightly flavored with some sort of acid, sprice, and herb.
The next day I removed the pork chops and dried them off. I coated them in olive oil and put them on a hot grill. I cooked them for about 7 minutes each side until they got a nice brown crust and were internally about 155 degrees. They did not need to be seasoned because of the brine. After the pork chops were cooked I let them rest for 5 minutes before serving so the juices would redistribute.
Meanwhile I cut the brussel sprouts in have and removed the outer leaves. I blanched the brussel spouts in salty water for about a minute and then shocken them in salty ice water. This keeps the brussel sprouts bright green. I tossed the brussel sprouts with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, onion, thyme, and lemon and roasted them in a hot oven until they were golden brown.
For the apples I simply diced them and tossed them with olive oil, salt, lemon, onion, and thyme.
It turns out I forgot to use the beets, which I am really pissed about. I would have used them in the apple salad. Tomorrow I will make a raw beat salad. Personally, I enjoy raw beets more then cooked beets. Raw beets have a great texture and a more pungent flavor then cooked beets in my opinion.

The dish was delicious. The pork was extremely moist and flavorful. Brines work wonders on white meats. From a basic standpoint, brining meats allows the cells of the meat to hold salt water inside of them when they cook. This keeps them extremely moist and flavorful. The brussel sprouts were so good. They were crisp, salty, spicy, sweet, and acidic. The apple added a great freshness to the dish. If I made a bacon reduction of some sort for a sauce that would have complemented the dish beautifully.
I do not have a picture of the dish because my camera was not working!! I will make sure to get more pictures in my posts.

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