Berkshire pork chops on the mini.

Eggcelsior

I went by Wegmans after returning from Austin on Tuesday to grab some necessities and saw some nice Berkshire chops in the meat case. I brined them for 4 hours with Gamechanger from Oakridge.


After brining, I dried them off and added some rub. I let them rest for 30 minutes while
I set up the mini. This was the first time using my new grate from @stlcharcoal in it and it made a huge difference.



I had a couple wood chunks left over from a previous failed mini session(the reason I bought the new grate) so I decided to "smoke" the chops at 250 until the temp was 130.



After, I seared them for 2 minutes per side, flipping every minute.




I topped the chop with a bourbon-pecan onion topping and served it with the rice and beans my wife made.



The difference between heritage pork and the mass-produced stuff is marked. The "porkiness" was perfectly accentuated with the smoke and Bourbon flavors plus the sweetness from the caramelized onions. I enjoyed some Blue Mountain Dark Hollow with it.

Sorry for the crappy cellphone pics.

Mickey

Was one of those for the baby?

Eggcelsior

Ha. My mother in law babysat today. I always try to do dinner as payment.

minniemoh

That is one great cook. I can almost taste the chops from your pictures.

Mickey

Nice cook man

hapster

They look awesome! Nice cook!

caliking

Damn good looking pork there. What goes into the bourbon pecan topping (besides the obvious)?

Eggcelsior

@caliking I caramelized onions in a couple tbsps of butter and then added bourbon to the pan and cooked it until the liquid evaporated. Then I stirred in toasted pecans and S&P.

Chris_Wang

I like the heavy duty microwavable paper plate.

Eggcelsior

Only the best chinet for me.

henapple

Nice

SmokeyPitt

Awesome looking meal.  That topping sounds killer.  Everyone is putting their nuts on their food today.  I just bookmarked the pistachio crusted chicken from big green craig.  

Acn

Looks really good! Cooking for just me this weekend, I will have to look very hard at these at Wegmans tomorrow.

Conneggticut_Yankee

That looks awesome. Love me some chops. Add the rice and beans, tasty brew and no plates to clean, fugettaboutit!!

Skiddymarker

Eggcelsior said:

@caliking I caramelized onions in a couple tbsps of butter and then added bourbon to the pan and cooked it until the liquid evaporated. Then I stirred in toasted pecans and S&P.

Great cook, Those onions are like a side dish around my house. 

+1 on heritage pork being so much different than the cryovac'd stuff. S&P maybe some mild sage or savory is all we use on the good stuff, the "other" is breaded, stuffed and sauced/rubbed to give it some taste. 

Eggcelsior

@Acn, these were near the meat counter in a near were they do samples(if your's has that). It was store-sealed and said "Family Farm Raised Berkshire Pork". They also had wild boar. I asked about it since I'v never seen it like that. The employee stated that they normally feature it in the display case on weekends but are doing this to prevent waste(apparently, they were throwing out what didn't sell). I never get it because they cut it really thin but these were at least an inch thick. I may look at a local farm who offers them to look into price savings. The cost wasn't a big difference to me, as I typically get the organic pork at Wegmans.

RAC

Nice looking chops! I will try your topping sounds really good.

mgoblue0484

do you have the same grate for your other egg? Was looking at getting one of those too. Looks great. I love grilled chops.

BigWader

Love brined smoked chops.  I'm sure the Berkshire took it to another level.

Eggcelsior

@mgoblue0484

Yes. I love it. When I had a medium I picked up the High que grate. The one downside to that was that the rolled edge would slide on the ceramic causing it to flip so the charcoal would drop into the ash. With Jonathan's, the edges "grip" against the ceramic so it doesn't move. Plus, it was a few bucks cheaper. You won't go wrong with wither one but these are my reasons for getting what I have.

Mickey

You are my new hero buddy. Had local butcher cut 4 outstanding chops. Did my brine and did coffee rub. Cooked your onions, bourbon, pecan topping. OUTSTANDING. Will be doing this a lot for guests.