Apple Wood Smoked Pork Chops

When you have a wonderful, flavorful, tender and robust cut of grass-fed beef or 100% grain-fed pork, you should do all that you can to let the meat speak. I use simple flavors to enhance and compliment the flavor of the meat, but strong flavors are not necessary when you are dealing with our delicious grass-fed beef and heritage pork. The flavors add a harmony to the beef and pork, but the meat is the melody.

Our thick cut 100% grain-fed pork chops are perfect for smoking or for the grill. Their 1 1/4” - 1 1/2" thickness ensures that they will stay moist and juicy, even when smoking and grilling.  I like to brine the chops for additional flavor that penetrates throughout the chop.

To make the brine:

The general rule of thumb is 1 cup of kosher salt (not table salt) to 1 gallon of water. Reduce this amount, keeping the same ratio, to brine smaller quantities of meat. (1/4 cup kosher salt per quart of water.) Boil the water and salt until the salt dissolves, then cool to room temperature. At this point, you can add ½ the amount of sugar as salt, any herbs, peppercorns or additional flavors.

When I brined my pork chops, I only used water and salt. I brined overnight, but 6 hours is sufficient for chops. Brine in the refrigerator.

When you’re ready to grill, take them out of the brine, dry them off completely, and at this point, you can lightly sprinkle your favorite dry rub on the pork chops. Don’t use a liberal amount of dry rub, because you will oversalt the chops. Bring them to room temperature before putting on the grill.

I smoked the pork chops for about 1 1/2  hours at 250 degrees using apple wood chips. When they reach 145 – 150 degrees internal temp, you can sear them on both sides very quickly for a nice crisp to the outside.  Let the pork chops rest for 10 min before serving. A green vegetable like brussel sprouts and a wonderful crunchy bread makes this a perfect meal.