Pork Chops

Pork chops generally kind of suck, right? Apparently they used to be these nice tender cuts of meat, until chicken caught on (for being tender and lean) and breeders started raising pigs who would be leaner as well. The result, pork chops have a proclivity to turn out try as hell at basically all times (such is why I don't care for them much). [History lesson courtesy my Good Eats book]

There is, however, a trick to putting moisture in dry meat -- brining. Give your meat an hour or two in the fridge while soaking in a brine, and it will come out a good deal moister then otherwise. The brine itself is simple too - something like 3 cups water, 1 tablespoon salt & 1 tablespoon sugar (or 4 cups water, 1/4 cup salt & 1/4 cup sugar for larger portions) - mix that up in a pyrex container or something, add your meat, and seal it up in the fridge for a 1-2 hours. Just be sure when you're done to rinse and dry the meat off before cooking.
Ok, so I had some brined pork chops - now what. I figure, going along with wanting moist meat here, I should braise it. I also figured now would be a good time to play around with a mirepoix (french term: carrots, celery, and onions minced for use as aromatics in stocks and soup) - it helped that I had gotten carrots and celery at the store and hadn't found a use for them yet.

So I mince/cut/prepare those guys (which is fun), winding up with basically a ton of vegitables. From here, it's time to sear the meat. Heat up the skillet, give the chops a good 4-5 minutes and then set aside. Side fact: searing doesn't do a damn think to 'seal in juices' - meat is porous as a motherfucker no matter what you do. What the browning does do is add flavor.

In my heated skillet, I added some chicken broth and all my veggies. Got that to a good simmer, then added it to my chops inside my cassarole dish.

Oh this is a problem - it's not braising when the damn meat is completely submerged. This is more like a damn stew.

Well whatever - gave it 2 hours at 300. Remove and serve. The result? Certainly moister then the usual roasted chop - still pretty dry/tough. I'd actually wager I outright overcooked it. My ideas for next time? Repeat the brine, season heavily, and then either braise it properly (smaller container, small amount of liquid, longer cooking time, lower temperature) or grill it and use a meat thermometer to pull it the second it hits 165 degrees (cooking target for pork) so as to not overdo it again. The future is promising, this one was not.

Time: 3.5 Hours (0.5 Hours Active)
Difficulty: 2/5
Cleanup: 3/5
Taste: 2/5