Pork Chops/Steaks

[Hot Smokin Gal]

Sorry I haven't been on in a while.  We are now done for the time being at our northern retreat.  As this is the first year of our Bradley (bought last spring), this is my first winter-time smoke today.  Very impressed.  Had no trouble getting up to desired smoking temp and holding it there.  We've been in the negative temps to single digits the past several days here in WI. The wind chill is really brutal and I wondered if even the Bradley would be up to it as there's probably a 10-15 mph wind out there today.  

Made some pork chops (they were on sale this week) that I gave a dry rub to first so they came out like the ones you can buy at the store that stay pink and actually taste like you're eating ham.  Turned out great.  These are just out of the cooler display chops (only about 1/2" thick).  

I gave them a rub with Morton's Tender Quick (5 tbsp for 5 pounds of pork chops), tbsp+ of hickory salt from Butcher Packer, a little less than a 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar.  Rubbed down and sealed in a plastic bag with my Foodsaver.  Instructions on Morton said 4 - 6 hrs and as they were pretty thin, I went with about 4 1/2 hours, cut open   bag and poured a little pineapple juice (I was out of apple cider) in there and resealed.  Let them sit about another 45 minutes and rinsed.  Smoked in the Bradley at 200 for an hour and then 225 degrees for 1/2 an hour to finish cooking, using 3 applewood pucks. The best doggone smoked chops I've ever eaten.  

Wanted to add this to the post because when I searched old posts looking for guideline for chops, all I found were for smoking whole loin or for the real thick butterfly chops.  Just thought I'd let you all know that it works equally as well with the thin cheap chops.  Did not dry out or get tough at all.

Best of luck to everyone!

P.S.  I had older post about green picnic hams I dry cured like a Virginia Ham and smoked.  Still haven't tried them yet.  Will post how they turned out (maybe make one next weekend).

[Cold Smoke]

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!Smoked chops....[^][:p]

Did they come out tasting more like ham than a regular chop?

Cold Smoke

[Oldman]

Hot Smokin Gal, thank you for your recipe. I have included it in the project. Titled: <b>Hot Smokin Gal's Smoked Pork Chops</b>
Olds


http://rminor.com

[JJC]

Those pork chops sound delicious, HSG!  If they did come out tasting a lot like ham and if you wanted a different taste, you could try eliminating the Tender Quick and substituting Kosher salt instead.  Just a thought . . . personally I like the ham taste[:)]

John
Newton MA

[Sesh]

My hat is off to you Hot Smokin Gal for getting out and smoking.  I've been too much of a wimp for the last week to get out and smoke  at 0 degrees but I'm sure you've got it worse in Fond du Lac than I do in Waukesha.

[JJC]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Sesh</i>
<br />My hat is off to you Hot Smokin Gal for getting out and smoking.  I've been too much of a wimp for the last week to get out and smoke  at 0 degrees but I'm sure you've got it worse in Fond du Lac than I do in Waukesha.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Hey, it's +1F right now in MA, and I've got a ham going on in 30 min.  Should hit about -6F here tonite, but I'm not afraid [8D].  Of course, the ham is dressed in a T-shirt, and the BS is located about 3 feet from my back door . . . [:D]

John
Newton MA