Brining pork chops

[Oak Smoke]

I’m grilling some 1 inch boneless pork chops tomorrow afternoon. I’m considering wet brining them for two hours before grilling them. I’ve not wet brined a pork chops before. It will be a simple salt and sugar brine, nothing fancy, I’m just looking for very moist and flavorful. I’ll be watching the temps closely so I don’t go over 145 F. What’s your opinion or experience?

[58limited]

I've dry brined pork chops but I have not done a wet brine. I dry brine overnight in most cases.

[TomfromtheSoo]

+1 on dry brine. We salt at night, next day add black pepper and garlic. Don't over cook, 145F if you and pull it there and let it rest.

[CaptainMike]

I like wet brining pork chops. It's the only thing I regularly do wet brine. It definitely adds moisture as well as a bit of depth in flavor.

[Alan Brice]

I have not wet brined anything since I dry brine everything now. My biggie was salmon and whole turkey. It has been several years n I do not miss it.

[RonB]

Do ya have any trouble getting a nice sear? I assume that you pat the chop dry before cookin'.

[rmeugene]

This is what I do…absolutely will not grill one without it.

[fzxdoc]

I agree with CaptainMike , pork chops are well worth the wet brine. I usually wet brine then reverse sear with Chef Tim Love's Cocoa-and-Chile rub.

My only recommendation, Oak Smoke , is to pull the pork chops at 135°-140° and let carryover cooking get them to 145°

Kathryn

And P.S. before you ask

Chef Tim Love's Cocoa-and-Chile Pork Chops

Ingredients:
2 quarts water
1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
Kosher salt
Four 1 1/2-inch-thick boneless pork loin chops
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon pure ancho chile powder
Extra-virgin olive oil for brushing

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the water with the red pepper and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt and stir until the salt dissolves. Add the pork chops and let brine at room temperature for 1 hour.

Light a grill and create a cool zone. (For a charcoal grill, rake the coals to one side; for a gas grill, leave one side unlit.) In a bowl, mix the cocoa, sugar and ancho powder with 1 tablespoon of salt.

Drain the pork chops and pat dry, removing any bits of crushed pepper. Brush generously with olive oil. Roll the pork chops in the cocoa rub and pat to help it adhere. Grill over moderately high heat for 4 minutes, turning the chops once or twice until lightly browned. Transfer the chops to the cool zone, cover and grill for about 15 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center of the chops registers 135° for medium meat. Let the chops rest for 10 minutes before serving.

[Johnny Booth]

Copied that one. We are having a crown roast for Christmas. Will have to try it.
Thanks. 😎

[CaptainMike]

The brining article:

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/salting-and-wet-brining/

[ecowper]

what CaptainMike and fzxdoc Kathryn said .... I use that method for the wet brine. My rub is different, but that's just particular taste.

[Richard Chrz]

If you have a SV, big thick pork chops are designed almost for a 2 hour SV hard fire seared.

[Hulagn1971]

Richard Chrz what temp bath do you use?

[Richard Chrz]

Hulagn1971. So I believe I tend to be in the 138 - 140 range, I’ve had a few bad ones at 135 that has kept me from going that low anymore. But honestly that could have been more about the quality of the pork.

I do dry brine for 24 hours if I am on top of things. I had never brined anything until joining here, and mostly I feel like dry brine is the favorite of most here, so I jut stuck with it, so easy too.

[DaveD]

+10000 I just did this a couple days ago - honey mustard marinade for half an hour, then SV at 140 for 2-3 hours, then sear on the CI skillet. Outstanding.

[Santamarina]

Haven’t wet brined anything since I discovered Amazing Rbs a dozen+ years ago. Dry brines and reverse sears have been providing me with moist and tender steaks and chops, so I honestly haven’t even considered a wet brine.

[N227GB]

Same here. The last type of wet brine I did was char siu pork. I noticed the package suggested it could be used as a dry rub, so that's what I now do. I use Grace Jamaican Jerk seasoning, which is a wet paste, so perhaps that counts as a wet brine.

[LA Pork Butt]

I’ve wet brined them. Anyone brined them in pickle juice? I’ve done boneless skinless chicken thighs before and liked the results.

[N227GB]

Yes, some time ago. I need to do this again!

[Sweaty Paul]

Looking forward to seeing your cook and hearing your review - self assessment!

Paul

[Oak Smoke]

I’ll let you know how it went. I’m just trying for more moisture.

[Duanessmokedmeats]

I have brined pork chops in an Italian dressing mix, using olive oil, and red raspberry vinegarette.
I then take out brine and put into a bag of shake n bake. Smoked to deliciousness.

[TripleB]

Kind of matters what type of chop you are cooking? Loin chop, rib chop, blade chop, etc. If I was doing a rib chop, I'd probably just dry brine since they are generally more marbled, lending to a tender, juicy chop. Loin chops I'd probably wet brine since they are less marbled and have a greater tendency to dry out during cooking.

I would also pull at around 140 degrees. It will rise in temp as it sits a bit as you pull together the sides.

[Oak Smoke]

They’re loin chops. I bought a loin at Sam’s and cut my own chops. Good grief the whole loin was less than $20.00 when I bought it.

[DTro]

Once I started wet brining chops and some pork roasts, I never went back to dry brining them. Pork butts stay with the dry brine though. I usually do a simple water, salt and sugar brine. And sometimes, if short on time it’s in the juice just for an hour.

[Oak Smoke]

Here’s my thoughts on the wet brined chops. I brined them for three hours then patted them dry, brushed with avocado oil and rubbed with MMD. I just wanted a really moist everyday pork chop. I set the kamado up with a true two zone set up with one half the grill above half the deflector and the other half grill as low as the deflector and open to the coals. I seared them first then put them above the deflector to come to final temp. They were delicious. Six people ate 8 big thick chops. I paid a lot of attention to them as I ate. I think in all honesty the improvement in moisture may have been about 10%. I will try it again for sure. I had to take a call and let the last two get to 153 F before I got them off the grill. They were still moist enough to get by but not great. The others came off at from 138 F to 140 F and were very good. In the end I think wet brining is a helpful technique that I will use again but that instant read thermometer is your best bet for moist pork chops.

[Skip]

If your Guests were happy it's all that matters. You nailed it!

[Oak Smoke]

The guest were happy!

[Sweaty Paul]

Thanks for the report! Glad the cook was successful!

[Karon Adams]

We usually buy an entire Pork Loin and cut it into chops. we then salt and pepper and vacuum seal with a touch of oil to help the bag seal. It's just we two so this works best for us. We cook in multiple ways but we have a small Smoker/grill that we use for steaks and single meal smoking. Supposed to be a grill as well, but the time to bring it up to sear temp is too long, so we sear on the griddle.

Anyway, we have salt in while frozen, we may add some salt the day before cooking as a drys brine. I like my pork a little cooler, makes it more tender. we generally pull at 135 from the smoke then sear at around 600+ and let it rest. Tender, juicy, slightly pink and well seasoned.