Smoked Pork Chops

whitetailfan · February 27, 2004, 04:09:02 PM

When I grew up we used to get some pork chops smoked along with our hams and bacons at the local abatoir. They come out pink and look very similar to a ham, and you would cook them as any other chop either on the grill or frying pan, so I do not think they were cooked through in the smoking process.
Does anyone know how this process is done? My guess is a curing brine and cold smoke. Any tips or recipes for a brine? I'm looking for an overnight process, not days on end like the ham recipe in the Bradley book.[?][8D]

John - Lethbridge, AB

Fuzzybear · February 27, 2004, 07:12:20 PM

Not me, but I'm all ears waiting to find out!

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

MallardWacker · February 27, 2004, 09:59:59 PM

WhiteTail,

Look over on the BACON thread. I would believe that you could use the same process. I think I have mentioned that when I cut up one of my butts after curinf it, i cut large thick steaks and grilled them. They did remind me of a good smoked chop that I have bought in the store.

Please keep us informed....

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Akansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

whitetailfan · February 28, 2004, 12:51:35 AM

Thanks guys.
The weekend is upon me and I want to do some up for Sunday.
I am going to use pre-cut chops, not a loin to cut later. I talked to a butcher and the smoked chops they sell are actually cooked as per the laws here in Canada to 150deg and they looked just like the ones I am used to. I had trouble finding a good brine mixture on the net, so since I picked up some Morton Tenderquick last weekend, I am going to use it with no other spice added, at their mixing directions on the package.

Plan:
Mix up brine and soak chops for 24 hrs
Smoke at 180-190deg for about 3 hrs and then check internal temp to 155deg.

Note: As long as your brine contains sodium nitrite you are safe from botulism, so it is not uncommon to cold smoke so that the meat retains more moisture. That way if a person were so inclined, they could have a medium rare pork chop - although I personally would never do it.

My plan is to smoke and heat through and then freeze the chops I dont need for supper that night for a later time.

TIP: The problem with Morton container is that the instructions are laid out in weight of cure to weight of meat. There is no volume of cure to weight of meat, and since I don't have a scale in grams I had a problem. What I did do is dump out the whole bag of Tenderquick and then measure it back into the bag.
My baking wife informs me that there are 15mL of dry powder to a tablespoon. Therefore in doing some math based on the advertised weight of the package and getting down to the smallest increments, my finding was that 1mL of cure was equal to 0.8 grams. Or more simply there are 12 grams to a tablespoon. Of course after writing this I realize that only my Canadian counter-parts will have their Morton sold in grams[:p]

Next post will be results after Sunday.

John - Lethbridge, AB

whitetailfan · March 02, 2004, 09:22:23 PM

Results: Pretty darn good if I do say so myself...
Soaked for 24 hours and smoked with hickory for about 3 hours. Temp varied and got away on me to just over 200, but not far from the 180 target.

What I have come to realize is that the stuff I am used to is obviously a smoked loin that is later cut into chops. The chops themselves turned blackish from the smoke and normally it is clean pick. The smoke penetrated and turned the meat nice and pink on the inside.

In the future though, I going to add some more sugar to the prepared Morton Tenderquick, as I found it a bit salty to my taste. Although it was very close to what I am used to, the whole purpose of smoking it yourself is to get the flavour you want. Besides being a ton of fun of course.

John - Lethbridge, AB

Chez Bubba · March 03, 2004, 12:26:14 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by whitetailfan
 at the local abatoir.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Canadian to US translation please.[:)]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

Fuzzybear · March 03, 2004, 01:05:28 AM

abatoir is the slaughterhouse.....[xx(]

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

trout · March 03, 2004, 01:35:44 AM

Whitetailfan, try to find a rub or brine mix that uses curing salt. It will be less salty than using tenderquick. There are many brines available on the internet and in sporting goods stores that use a small amount of sodium nitrite along with a little regular salt and seasonings. I have used tenderquick before and it calls for ALOT. Also it will not be near as salty if you smoke it whole instead of precut. I have a whole loin curing as we speak, will relay my results next week.[;)]

Let your trout go and smoke a salmon instead.

whitetailfan · March 03, 2004, 10:55:55 PM

Trout,
Do you have a home made brine recipe or do you buy pre-mix; what is your favorite?

I have purchased some Prague Powder, which in the meat store owners vocabulary, is Sodium Nitrite. Therefore I can build my own if I had some other ingredients.

How long do you brine your loin for? The penetration time has got to be quite a bit longer than on my pre-cut chops.

Thanks for your input.[:)]

John - Lethbridge, AB

trout · March 04, 2004, 02:26:57 AM

I am using Buckboard Bacon Cure rub on my pork loin this time. In the past I always had used a premix bacon cure that contained a trace amount of sodium nitrate (not nitrite). From what I read nitrate is not a good thing[xx(], so no sense telling you what I had been using. This is my first attempt at the smoked pork chop thing, I had always made bacon from pork bellies or pork butt before. If I was to brine a loin I would inject some of it into the inside like a ham to speed the curing a bit. I will share more info when my experiment is done next week.[:)]

Let your trout go and smoke a salmon instead.

whitetailfan · March 10, 2004, 11:58:10 PM

Hey Trout,
Hope your loin experiment is going/went well.

What kind of smoke time, cook time, temperature etc are you planning on using/used?

I have a loin in the fridge right now and I am planning on mixing up the brine tonight and brining until Saturday morning which would be 60 hours of soaking until early Saturday. My plan is then to do a thorough rinse of the loin (I forgot to do that on the chops) and let stand in the fridge to dry for an hour or two.

That puts me smoking at 9-10:00 in the morning.

No idea how long it will take to get up to that 150deg area...

Thanks for anyone's tips[:)]

John - Lethbridge, AB

trout · March 11, 2004, 02:27:52 AM

Whitetail, I used buckboard bacon cure rub. Let it cure for 10days, soaked it in water for and hour, rinsed well and let it sit to dry off for an hour. Then I put in in the smoker at 150F for 45minutes, started smoke with apple wood and upped to 200F after that. Took about 5 hours to hit internal temp of 140F. Only smoked it for 2 1/2 hours of that. Sliced it in thick slices to grill. Tried one: yummmm, saving the others to toss on the grill later.[^]

Let your trout go and smoke a salmon instead.

Chez Bubba · March 11, 2004, 02:40:09 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Fuzzybear
 abatoir is the slaughterhouse.....[xx(]<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
[Steve Martin]Well then, you'd think they would spell it S-L-A-U-G-H-T-E-R-H-O-U-S-E. It seems like those French have a different word for everything![/Steve Martin][:D][:D][:D]

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

whitetailfan · March 11, 2004, 05:16:12 AM

Hey Kirk - OUCH![:(]
Living north of the 49th does require me to be French...[;)]

Abatoir was simply the word we used around our house to describe where we took a pig to get tastier - never thought much about where the word came from, but I notice that it was Fuzzybear that answered and HE knew what I was talking about.[:D]

John - Lethbridge, AB

Chez Bubba · March 12, 2004, 01:03:59 AM

John,

Certainly no offense intended, I was just funnin'.[:)]

Plus, it didn't help that on a whim I listened to the "Wild & Crazy Guy" album on my way to Chicago last weekend![:D][8D]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?