Brined Sweet and Spicy Pork Chops
"My DH does not really like pork chops because he feels that pork always comes out too dry. That is why it is necessary to use the brine, and leave the meat in it for at least 4 hours (better results overnight). I've found that if you let the meat rest in the brine before cooking it, it really adds a lot of moisture and flavor to the meat. ---"
photo by Rita1652
- Ready In:
- 4hrs 25mins
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Serves:
-
4
ingredients
- 4 boneless pork chops
- 3 jalapeno peppers, cut into strips
- 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 (20 ounce) can pineapple chunks, in juice
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 tablespoons butter, more if needed
- salt and black pepper
-
For brine
- 2 quarts water
- 1⁄2 cup kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 6 bay leaves, crushed
- 4 tablespoons black peppercorns
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 tablespoons dried thyme leaves
- 4 tablespoons dried rosemary leaves
directions
- Mix all ingredients for brine in a large non-reactive container, making sure salt and sugar are dissolved well. Place pork chops in brine and place in refrigerator overnight.
- Once you are ready to cook, rinse pork chops and pat dry. Season with salt and cracked black pepper (make sure not to add too much salt because the pork chops absorb salt from the brine as well.).
- Heat a skillet and melt the butter. Once the pan is hot, add pork chops and cook until done, adding more butter if needed. Once pork chops are done, remove from skillet and set aside.
- Add jalapeño strips and cook for about 2 minuted to release the flavor. Add more butter if needed.
- Add pineapple chunks, reserving the juice. Add grape tomatoes. Cook for about 1 minute.
- Add half the pineapple juice to the skillet. In a mixing bowl, combine the cornstarch with the remaining pineapple juice. Once the mixture in the skillet starts to lightly simmer, add the cornstarch mixture and let the sauce thicken.
- Serve and enjoy!
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Reviews
-
Tender! Pork is a great choice of meat to be brined and was happy to see it use in this contest. I made 1/2 the brine which was more then enough and used fresh out of the garden herbs. Cut back on the peppercorns to 1 tablespoon. I brined for 4 hours using 1 1/2 pounds of pork making 5 chops. Used only 1 tablespoon butter found absolutely no need for more. I used crushed pineapples with nice results. I browned my chops on one side flipped then added the peppers and the drained crushed pineapple and cooked for 2-4 minutes adding the juice mixed with the cornstarch stirring in and topped with tomatoes and cooked till done. My chops were over an inch and took about 12 minutes total. I would love to post 5 stars for this recipe But amount of ingredients was off and cooking time could have been clarified for those that need to know. Delish! Great work!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I don't really like answering about me sections, but here goes nothing.....I live in Chicago, IL. Went to culinary school. Used to work in a french restaurant in Downtown Chicago as a pastry chef but now I am a stay at home mom. I went to school for cuisine, not pastry, and actually I am much better at cuisine, however I've always wanted to study more pastry. I am not bad at it, I'm actually very good (tooting my own horn), but everyone says I have a natural talent for cuisine. Either way, I love cooking because it is my meditative time. However, when I cook at home, no one dares to walk into the kitchen because I am very bossy and they would rather not deal with me....heehee! <br />I also love to craft, read, and write. I write a lot. Been working on short stories lately, but I've always been more of a poem freak. I love to read....I have a massive collection of books....every type of book. They are mostly cook books and poetry collections, but I also love history, religion, drama, suspense, romance (not the cheesy kind, my favorite book of all time is love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcia marquez, I have yet to see the movie), mystery, murder mystery (second favorite book is and then there were none by agatha christie). <br />And my rambling continues....I come from a small family, I suppose, 1 brother 1 sister and my parents. My brother is married with 3 kiddies, my sister is a single mom of 1. I am engaged to the love of my life. To clarify, engaged is in parentheses because we cannot legally get married yet. I am a lesbian and I am very hopeful to the legalization of gay marriage because I would marry my girlfriend in a heartbeat. We have a 5 year old son, Joel,and a daughter from her previous relationship, Ashley, 12. I will post some pictures on here as soon as I have some time. Enough rambling....thanks for reading, if you actually stayed awake through the whole thing. <br /><img src=http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/Adopted1smp.jpg border=0 alt=Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket /> <br /><a href=http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=148021 target=_blank><img src=http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y53/DUCHESS13/RSC%20Banners/RSC10-NoPhoto-Participant.jpg alt= /></a></p>
