Buzz
A well-cooked pork chop can compete with a steak in both taste and texture, and they cost far less than any beef cut (aside from stew meat or budget ground beef). However, it's easy to overcook pork chops, which can make home cooks hesitant to try them, missing out on an affordable and mouthwatering protein.
Welcome to Cheap Chow week! With rising food costs, it may feel like your budget is limited to fast food or instant ramen. But there’s a better way! This week, we’ll teach you how to buy, cook, and enjoy delicious food on a budget, without compromising on flavor or fun.
Don't stress—I won't be suggesting sous vide. While an immersion circulator can make fantastic pork chops, you don’t need one. Anyone with an oven can cook these juicy chops. The secret to perfect pork lies in two things: brining and using the reverse sear method (slow-cook the meat at a low temperature until it’s 10-15 degrees below your target, then finish with a quick sear in a hot pan).
Brining is the process of soaking meat in a saltwater solution, often with additional flavorings, to enhance both taste and moisture. Alternatively, you can dry brine by rubbing salt (and sometimes sugar) directly on the meat. While I usually prefer dry brining for turkey, I wanted to try both methods on pork chops before deciding if wet brining was still viable. I was also eager to test whether my new favorite ingredient—shio koji—could make a difference.
I bought four pork chops (just $0 per pound) and created four different types of brine to test:
A traditional brine, made by dissolving three tablespoons of salt in one cup of water, along with a bay leaf, three cloves of smashed garlic, and a couple of juniper berries. After the salt dissolved, I simmered the mixture for a few minutes, then removed it from heat and added two cups of cold water to cool it down.
Pickle juice directly from the Clausen jar.
A dry brine (rub) with three tablespoons of salt and one tablespoon of brown sugar.
Shio koji, rubbed directly onto the chops from the jar. (Learn how to make it here.)
For the first two chops, I placed them in plastic bags, added enough liquid to cover them, sealed the bags, and set them in the fridge. The other two chops I rubbed with dry brine and shio koji, then placed them on a wire rack with a sheet pan underneath in the fridge. I let all the chops sit for four hours—about the same time between putting them in the fridge and Ofclaire returning home from his union meeting.
When I took the chops out of the fridge, I immediately noticed a clear difference in their textures. The wet-brined chops were incredibly tender, almost losing their shape, while the dry-brined chop was noticeably firmer than before. The koji-treated chop felt nearly the same as it had.
Next, I wiped and blotted each chop until they were as dry as possible, placed them on a wire rack over a sheet pan, and popped them into a 225-degree oven until they reached an internal temperature of 110℉. (This took about 25 minutes, but start checking around 20 minutes, especially if you’re using a convection oven.) After that, I seared them in schmaltz at high heat in a stainless steel pan for a couple of minutes per side, adding a couple of tablespoons of butter, which I continuously spooned over the chops. When they reached 135℉ internally, I took them out, let them rest long enough for a few pictures, and finally tasted them.
To my surprise, the chop brined with the classic saltwater and aromatics turned out to be the most tender, juicy, and perfectly seasoned. The pickle juice chop was similarly juicy, but had a clear pickle flavor (not unexpected!). The dry-brined chop was over-seasoned and less tender, though it certainly wasn’t dry. The koji chop was my second favorite; it was slightly less tender and juicy than the wet-brined chops, but it had a delicious, nutty sweetness and browned more easily than the others. Ofclaire said it tasted like 'breakfast pork,' but couldn’t or wouldn’t explain further.
To recap: the classic wet brine followed by 25 minutes in a 225-degree oven and a quick pan-sear is all you need to perfect pork chops. If you’re short on time, don’t worry—just an hour in the saltwater solution will make a difference, especially with a reverse sear. And like pork itself, salt is cheap, and it works wonders.
Updated, [June 27th, 2018, 12:40 pm]: Several of you have asked how long is too long when brining your chops. For typical 1-inch thick chops, I recommend no more than four to five hours in a wet brine, though they can handle a dry brine for up to 24 hours. For chops that are two inches thick or more, they can stay in a wet brine overnight, but to maintain the best texture, aim for no more than eight hours.
