Houston's Pork chop recipe

Unknown

Can anyone help me out? The porkchop @ Houston's restaurant is literally the reason I bought my egg. But even tho I've made some great chops as well as other stuff on my egg, I've never achieved the awesome chop @ Houston's, incredible flavor and perfected cooked throughout.



So...does anyone have the inside scoop on how they do theirs?? Recipe and/or technique would be great. I'm sure they brine and marinate but If I could figure out how they make thiers so great, I'd be one happy pork eating egging fool.. TIA..

Boilermaker Ben

Not familiar with the Houston's restaurant, but can you tell how you've tried making chops? Have you tried brining? Have you done the 2" thick chops, or are you sticking with the general grocery store half-inchers?

Aside from lots and lots of practice, the biggest difference is probably the quality of the meat. You can have the best grill in the world, but if your meat is crap...

AZRP

Not familiar with the restaurant but as thick as that chop is I would guess they cook it sous vide and just sear it when its ordered. -RP

Spring Chicken

Here's what Perry's says about their famous pork chop.

Perry’s Famous Pork Chop (carved tableside)
Hand selected in the Midwest specifically for Perry’s Steakhouse, this prime chop is cured, roasted, slow-smoked and caramelized, and served with homemade applesauce.

I ordered it once and ate on it three times before it was gone. Quite delicious but framkly a bit overwhelming at the dinner table.

It seem to remember it having three rib bones so that would make it at least 3" thick.

Spring "Pork Chop Or Chopped Pork" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Boilermaker Ben

wow, now that is one confusing description. I'm guessing a marketing person got ahold of their menu and included as many catch-phrases as possible. I'm surprised they don't tell you what kind of wood they use (a popular gimmick, these days...applewood smoked bacon is on every menu lately). It's CURED? perhaps they mean brined? Roasted, and then slow-smoked?

I ordered the pork chop from Mike Ditka's restaurant, and got a three-bone gargantuan chop. It was really really good, though...cherry glazed...like you said, three meals in one. We take our chops seriously in Chicago.

UKMatt

Spring Chicken wrote:

Here's what Perry's says about their famous pork chop.

Perry’s Famous Pork Chop (carved tableside)
Hand selected in the Midwest specifically for Perry’s Steakhouse, this prime chop is cured, roasted, slow-smoked and caramelized, and served with homemade applesauce.

I ordered it once and ate on it three times before it was gone. Quite delicious but framkly a bit overwhelming at the dinner table.

It seem to remember it having three rib bones so that would make it at least 3" thick.

Spring "Pork Chop Or Chopped Pork" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

My wife ordered the pork chop at Perrys (as the lighter option than a steak no less!) - we knew we were in trouble when they offered to carve it tableside.

I think it lasted her three meals too

To the OP - I reckon you could get close by brining, smoking indirect until just underdone, rested and then seared direct on the egg.

UKMatt

Mr. & Mrs Potatohead

That too, would be my thought RP.
Also thinking a brining would be in order.

Loco Lobo

Here is an old post of my pork chop recipe. Stuffed!


http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=782032&catid=1#

bitslammer

Pork is tricky as it has no USDA grade like beef. Ignore all the marketing crap terms like "Chariman's Select" or "Prime Cut" or anything like that..they mean nothing.

Locate a good butcher and try a few "regular" chops from them to see if you like the taste. If you find them juicy, tender and tasty your good to go.

As mentioned brining a thick chop can ensure you won't dry it out while cooking it. Personally I throw mine in a ziploc bag with Wishbone Robust Italian Dressing. It's got the salt you want plus some good flavoring. I do them at least 4 hours if not overnight.

Like thick cut beef, make sure you let that sit out and come up to room temp before throwing on the egg. Once it's ready you can do regular or reverse sear. Don't know why but I find that I do reverse sear better when it come to thick chops.

I go easy like 300-375*F indirect until I'm reading about 120*F in the center of the chop. I take it off to rest for 5 minutes or so while I reconfigure the Egg for themonuclear mode. That means cast iron grate right over the coals and Egg wide open. Then I hit the chop for only about a minute or 2 per side bringing it up to around 140 then pull. I always get carryover to 155*F this way. Let rest 5 minutes or so then enjoy.

Spring Chicken

That sounds soooooo good.

Spring "The Hannibal Lecter Of Pork Chops" Chicken

Unknown

It is brined first. I would just find a standard prok brine. The only ingredient that I remember as being different from a regular brine is juniper berries. After that they were cooked in an Alto Sham at around 250-275 degrees(play with temp) to medium rare, internal temp at 125 or so. From there, cool. They were cut to serve at the grill station from a chilled state, then seared/heated through on the grill. I don't think the seasoning was anything more than kosher salt and cafe grind pepper, 50/50. As for finishing it off, a liberal amount of melted butter will get you where you need to be. I really think the brine/slow cooking is why this product is extremely moist. By chilling and resting, then slicing to sear, you retain all juices that would otherwise seep out if handling hot. Method over flavor profile is the key.

BUILDER

Ryan05afs wrote:

It is brined first. I would just find a standard prok brine. The only ingredient that I remember as being different from a regular brine is juniper berries. After that they were cooked in an Alto Sham at around 250-275 degrees(play with temp) to medium rare, internal temp at 125 or so. From there, cool. They were cut to serve at the grill station from a chilled state, then seared/heated through on the grill. I don't think the seasoning was anything more than kosher salt and cafe grind pepper, 50/50. As for finishing it off, a liberal amount of melted butter will get you where you need to be. I really think the brine/slow cooking is why this product is extremely moist. By chilling and resting, then slicing to sear, you retain all juices that would otherwise seep out if handling hot. Method over flavor profile is the key.

Thank you very much for the info. The best chop I've ever had was at Hal's in Atlanta. It was what they called a pineapple chop. I'm going to try your suggestions on preparing those double boned chops, thanks again.

MileHighMatt

The post from Ryan05afs is legit. I asked my brother to chime in. He used to be a general manager at Houston's and knows all of the recipes.

pattikake

The porkys look good so does the potatos. Great job. Thanks for sharing.

Patti
Wichita, KS

Gregwarren

I wanted to update this post in case anyone was trying to replicate this pork chop. I am a HUGE fan of this chop at Houston's(Hillstone now in Dallas). I have made it a few times now and I am getting better at it. I did it exactly as Ryan05afs described. The first time was amazing(got lucky). The second time, I over cooked it and it was a little tough. This last time was very successful. So here's what I did. 
     First I bought  double cut chops at Central Market ( has a great meat market). Berkshire chops were just a couple dollars more, so I bought them. Next, I brined for a minimum of four hours but suggest 6-8 if you can. Rinse to wash off brine and dry. I only used sea salt and fresh cracked black pepper on the outside for seasoning.  I placed them on a round cookie sheet with a wire rack underneath so they would roast all over.  I then set up for indirect cooking at 200-250. I'm still trying to control the temperature. I'm an amateur with the egg. Also, this time I bought a thermapen( highly suggest!!). At 125, I pulled the two chops off. A previous time, I chilled them to try that method, but ended up overlooking them( see Ryan05afs above post). For me, I had better results just letting them sit on the counter until the egg was ready for direct grilling. Next, I set up for direct heat. I let the egg heat up to 600 or so. Just get it REALLY hot!  Then, I seared and flipped it several times to get the great color on the outside until the internal temperature reached 140. Pull it off as it will continue to rise another 5 degrees to get your 145 degrees for a good piece of pork. It will be amazing and delicious just like at Houston's/ Hillstone. Please use a good meat thermometer for this. I finally broke down and invested in one as stated above. It's the difference that made it great this time.  Compare these posts and see what works for you. This method works for me and is a HIT in my house. Also, thank youRyan05afs for your post. It is spot on!  I too wanted an egg specifically to make this chop just as the original post.