Smoked Pork Chops

whitetailfan · March 16, 2004, 06:38:48 AM

A great success[:p]

I took Trout's advice and smoked a couple of "loin roasts". A whole loin will not fit in a Bradley, so at the local grocery store, they had 1Kg (2.2lbs)loin roasts and I picked up two of them.
Soaked them in Moron Tenderquick brine for 2.5 days, and then gave them a good rinse and left to dry and get up to room temp.
I smoked with 6 pucks straight (hickory) and then put on 3 more at about hour intervals. Total smoking time about eight hours. I could not get internal temp above 130-135deg smoking at 180deg. Since I put them on the barbecue I was not worried about internal temp.

Very happy with results, although again the Morton was very salty. What is interesting is that the most dense portion of the meat tasted perfect, but on the outer edge there was an area of the roast that took on more cure and salt flavour. In fact it was even a darker color of red that the rest of the meat, and there was a defining break in the area of meat and there was a layer of fat that seperated the two. My take is that they were different muscles and that the more dense muscle took on less cure while the weaker muscle took on the most. Also possible that the marbling is different between the two.

This is a great find and I will be doing a lot more soon. I would appreciate if anyone has a good brine recipe to share it here, or by e-mail, or in the recipe section. After two tries, I am looking to get away from Morton.

Good experiment - you will not be disapointed.[8D][8D][8D]

John - Lethbridge, AB

trout · March 17, 2004, 02:43:19 AM

Pork loin is not so thick that you need to use a brine. I had great luck with the Buckboard bacon cure rub. After curing in the fridge for 10 days there was enough liquid in the container that it was almost a brine anyway. Not too salty at all. baked some of my pork chops last night with a little spicy mustard and brown sugar on top. Yummmmmmm[:p]

Let your trout go and smoke a salmon instead.

swede · July 07, 2004, 07:30:44 PM

Try 1/2 cup pickling salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1gal water. Soak bone in pork loin for 12 hr in fridge. Poke with fork to let brine penitrate befor soaking.------Remove from brine, rinse with cold water. and pat dry. Cold smoke for 3 hr,----remove, cut, and grill. If you are in a hurry, cut the chops befor smoking, and just smoke for 1 hr.---make sure chops are dry befor smoking or they will get a black smudge on them.-------enjoy.

swede · July 07, 2004, 07:32:31 PM

Try 1/2 cup pickling salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1gal water. Soak bone in pork loin for 12 hr in fridge. Poke with fork to let brine penitrate befor soaking.------Remove from brine, rinse with cold water. and pat dry. Cold smoke for 3 hr,----remove, cut, and grill. If you are in a hurry, cut the chops befor smoking, and just smoke for 1 hr.---make sure chops are dry befor smoking or they will get a black smudge on them.-------enjoy.

whitetailfan · July 07, 2004, 08:00:31 PM

Thanks for the post swede,
It's ironic that I was just informed by the wife that I am going to be smoking chops again this weekend. She just picked up a 6lb loin so I am checking around for recipes to put in tonight[8D]
I am going to keep looking because I want something with cure it in. I might also just add some prague powder to the brine.
Anyway good luck with your smoked chops - those things rock.

I don't have time to buckboard Mallard or I'd try that. I just got some BBB last couple of weeks, and have not had a chance to use it yet but I also keep forgetting about the 10 day prep time[:I]

Edit: Actually I think it was trout who suggested BBB rub for pork chops, Mallard, I believe, is a Maple Cure fan for bacon - don't know if you grill any as pork chops

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

whitetailfan · July 11, 2004, 05:30:10 PM

Update and probably final recipe:
I brine cured the 6lb loin in tenderquik brine for 36-38 hrs not 60 like last time.
Did a quick wash, but this time soaked in clean water for 2 hours - all the difference in the world.
Did not come out over salty at all this time, in fact I thought they could use a bit more. Wife was in love with them, so cannot change. Brother tried them out too and this was my best batch to date.[:p]

Main difference - use whole loin, not individual chops, second - less brine time, perhaps up to 48 hours, third RINSE and SOAK- outside was WAY less black than before and there was no overpowering salt flavour. Still came out pink in the middle.

Took 4 hours with 3 hours hickory smoke - internal 150deg.
EDIT: Forgot guys, I was smoking at 200deg

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

Cold Smoke · July 13, 2004, 07:37:37 PM

Whitetail, do you grill those babies after smoking them? Do you add any other seasoning other than the brine? Is your brine made up of tenderquick and water only? Your smoked chops thread has piqued me curiosity.

Thanks!

Cold Smoke

whitetailfan · July 13, 2004, 09:26:32 PM

Hi there Cold,

Yes the finished meal is a grilled pork chop. What I am doing here is the preparation work of curing and smoking the pork for flavour. I grilled up six for supper that night, and then froze the rest.

There are no additional spices added to my brine - just water and tenderquik as per their package. 1 cup of TQ in 4 cups water +/-, its actually grams per litre of water on the package, but 1 to 4 is easier to figure out[;)]

I encourage you to add spices to the brine. I wanted to, but the wife kept saying that she liked them the way they were, and not to mess around until I got the brining time and rinsing thing figured out.

I brined and smoked the loin in two pieces as it was too big for the smoker and the dish I was soaking them/it in. Idea is to keep the exposed sides to a minimum. After the loin was smoked to temp, I let it cool in the smoker and then fridge, and cut them up into about 3/4inch chops.

Like I said they were extremely tasty, but IMHO I would have opted for a little bit saltier, so you can up the brine time, or cut the soaking time, but DEFINITELY soak for at least an hour. First 2 or 3 times I did this project (which is every previous time) I either did not even rinse (that was awful[xx(]) or after I did some more reading, I at least did a good rub and rinse, but I'm telling you, letting it soak in nice clean water helped a ton, and your curing is already done, you can't reverse the chemical changes that have taken place in the meat by soaking it to get the solution washed off. That has been my most taste altering discovery.

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

Oldman · July 13, 2004, 10:42:37 PM

Very interesting.

Cold Smoke · July 13, 2004, 10:57:47 PM

Thanks Whitetail, one whole cup of tenderquick- that sounds like a fair amount. I'll give it a try though. Do you toss any sauce on the chops when grilling? I'm sure the Mrs is going to want me to put a thin layer on hers.

I'll let you know how it turns out.[:D]

Cold Smoke

whitetailfan · July 14, 2004, 04:41:31 PM

Ya, I thought about cutting the amount of TQ in the brine, but that's what's on the outside of the package. If you are adding in directly to meat, then it calls for a lot less. I even e-mailed Morton directly to check the concentration, but it's no misprint.

I do not sauce the chops. I figure a lot of work has gone into the flavouring already, but if you were inclined it would not hurt it, just change the flavour. I would recommend that you grill the wife's to her specification, but make sure she tries a bite or two "as is" with no sauce - I guarantee she won't be disapointed.

This was one of my all time favorite meals growing up, and now I can make them anytime I want[:D]

whitetailfan
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

Cold Smoke · July 14, 2004, 05:16:31 PM

You da man Whitetail. Thanks for the info. I'll grill them to both your (you and the Mrs) specifications/recommendations and will advise of the results after my vacation. Will be off to the cottage for a couple of weeks. Gotta drag the BS along of course. Will be experimenting daily, I hope!

Cold Smoke

Bad Flynch · September 15, 2004, 03:51:33 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Chez Bubba

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

The O.E.D. has this a abattoir, with the first date of usage in English as 1820, in Great Britain. The origin is French.

B.F.

Chez Bubba · September 16, 2004, 04:35:35 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Bad Flynch
The O.E.D. has this a abattoir, with the first date of usage in English as 1820, in Great Britain. The origin is French.

B.F.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Aaahhh, he who surrenders meat! I get it.[:D][:D]

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

SmokinDoc · September 17, 2004, 01:21:48 AM

I found a smoked pork chop technique on the web and have found it very good. You start out with 1 part morton tender-quick and 1 part brown sugar. Mixed them together and put in a shaker bottle and sprinkled the mixture generously but, not completely covering the chops on both sides. Rub mixture into chops and put into a ziplock bag and refridgerate. If you are planning to eat the chops in the evening and the chops are less than 1" thick start the dry brine in early morning and if they are thicker start the night before.
When you are ready to smoke the chops rinse them of with cold water and pat dry.
From this point I more or less cold smoked the chops for 2 hours with Hickory. I just used the heat from the smoke generator. I then brushed olive oil on both sides and grilled them. They turned out great moist and tender. I even took leftovers to work the next day and quys wanted to know how i did it.

Duane