Grilling: Stuffed Pork Chops
About the author: Joshua Bousel blogs about grilling on his blog, The Meatwave, and appears weekly here on Serious Eats during grilling season.
Alton Brown may be against stuffing a turkey, but stuffing a pork chop, now that's another story. If you haven't tired of that Thanksgiving dressing and are dearly missing the act of stuffing a bread mixture into a piece of meat, then this is the recipe for you.
I would think that any leftover stuffing should work with this technique, you may just want to add some extra liquid to it so it doesn't dry out when re-cooked. I followed Alton Brown's recipe for a cornbread stuffing with fall flavors (running the gamut from walnuts to dried fruit), piped into brined, double-thick loin chops, then grilled over medium-high heat.
The texture and flavor of the stuffing injected a new and exciting life into these chops, which now has me eying other meats at the butcher that may be ripe for a similar treatment.
Stuffed and Grilled Pork Chops
Adapted from Alton Brown
Ingredients
4 double thick bone-in loin end pork chops
1 cup salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon mustard powder
2 cups cider vinegar, heated
1 pound ice cubes
1 1/2 cups cornbread, crumbled
2 tablespoons golden raisins
1/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/4 cup dried cherries, halved
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
2 teaspoons fresh sage, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Procedure
1. In a plastic container put the salt, sugar, peppercorns, and mustard powder. Add the hot vinegar and swirl to dissolve. Let mixture sit for 5 to 10 minutes to develop flavor. Add ice cubes and shake to melt most of the ice. Add chops and cover with brine. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
2. Remove chops from container and rinse. Cut horizontal pockets in each pork chop for stuffing. Combine rest of ingredients, and put into piping bag that is not fitted with a tip. Pipe each chop full with cornbread mixture.
3. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread coals evenly over the charcoal grate. Clean and oil the cooking grate. Grill the chops on medium high heat for 6 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and let rest for 5 minutes and serve.
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5 Comments:
This sounds like a lot of trouble and expense....you wouldn't believe how good plain old Stovetop tastes,mixed very slushy and stuffed in chicken or chops....
fatty at 4:39PM on 11/27/09
Isn't anyone else turned off by the sight of medium rare pork chops? Slightly pink I can see, but that looks unappetizing.
peekpoke at 8:56AM on 11/28/09
@peekpoke: I like my chops cooked medium, rosy on the inside, which is how this was cooked. They're a lot juicer and have more flavor cooked that way, I find well done chops somewhat dry and tasteless.
Joshua Bousel at 9:01AM on 11/28/09
@ Joshua: What internal temp do you prefer on pork? I do mine most of the time around 145F.
Niek_PSV at 8:39AM on 12/02/09
@Niek_PSV: Same here. This particular chop I went by feel more than temp because I didn't think I'd get an accurate read due to the stuffing. Hence, it's slightly pinker than normal, but it was delicious all the same.
Joshua Bousel at 9:12AM on 12/02/09