Every so often we realize that one of our best recipes sits in an old cookbook we made years ago, and not on our food blog website. We made this blog primarily for for us to reference on our phones in the grocery stores when shopping, and in the kitchens anywhere we are asked to cook, so our pork chop dilemma recently was extra irritating when visiting The Fresh Market. Anyway, last week when we decided to grill some great looking bone in pork chops. (I also occasionally realize I haven’t irritated my kids for a while so I added a word to this recipe title both Tara and Brianna hate. Haha.)

Pork chops are so delicious when prepared properly on the grill, but so many people dry them out when grilling, thus destroying the taste. Grilling adds a great caramelization and fat rendering when done right, and while we also like them pan fried, nothing compares to a properly prepared grilled pork chop in our book.

So, you may ask, what’s the secret? First you have to buy bone in pork chops. The bone adds flavor, helps maintain moisture and there’s nothing better than ignoring manners after eating properly with a knife and fork, and then picking up the bones to suck and chew them when no one is looking. (My mom taught me that 60 years ago.)

Secondly, you have to take the time to brine them. I know this seems massively difficult for “lazy” cooks who simply throw some salt and pepper on food hoping their guests know nothing about truly good food. Fortunately for them, many don’t. So many cooks are just too lazy, yep lazy, to think about preparing food a few hours before they they actually start the cooking process. As I have told so many family and friends, “It’s easy to cook mediocre food quick. It’s harder to take the time make great food properly!” (Though it’s also to easy to make great food quicker by deploying technology that so many of my older family and friends just “won’t” take the time to learn about, but that’s for another article.) 

With this said, if you follow the brining directions, and of course grill the chops as instructed, you will find these chops to be absolutely delicious and juicy, or MOIST!

3 One Inch Bone in Pork Chops or 6 Half Inch Bone in Pork Chops

BRINE

1/4 Cup Kosher Salt

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

4 Tablespoons of Minced Garlic

1 Teaspoon Black Pepper

1 Teaspoon Dried Rosemary

1 Tablespoon of Dried Thyme

1 Bay Leaf

2 Cups of Water

2 Cups of Ice Cubes

1. Combine all brine ingredients in a medium to large pot.
2. Heat the pot and bring the brine to a boil.
3. Pour the brine into a large bowl.
4. Add the ice cubes.
5. Once cool, and not before, put the chops in a large plastic bag or container, and seal them with the brine.
6. Refrigerate the chops in the brine for a minimum of 2 hours up yo 6 hours.
7. Remove the chops from the brine, and discard the brine.
8. Pat the chops dry and let them sit at room temperature for 15 minutes while you start your grill.
9. Once the grill is at high temperature, near 350 degrees at least, place the chops on the grill.
10. Sear both sides of your chops at high heat.
11. Then turn the chops once more on each side to cross hatch the sear.
12. Once the chops are seared properly, and the fat is rendered so you can see some level of caramelization, check the temperature with an instant read thermometer.
13. The chops are perfect to remove from the grill at 145 to 150 degrees.