The Juiciest Pork Chops Begin With This Fridge Staple

The key to the juiciest, most flavorful pork chop is sitting proper in your fridge—proper there, on the backside of a pickle jar you’ve almost kicked.

Why can’t we apply the ingenuity of a jam jar cocktail or a peanut butter jar salad dressing to raise the common-or-garden pork chop? What if the celebs align, and you end up on the very finish of a pickle jar, with a few selection cuts within the fridge?

Enter the pickle-brined pork chop. A superb brine works wonders on pork, locking in moisture and infusing it with delicate seasoning. Making a brine from scratch is simple sufficient, and easy brine recipes are available on-line. However for a lower-effort method to get most taste and juiciness, merely pour any leftover pickle brine straight over a few pork chops in a lidded container. Switch to the fridge and permit to brine for no less than just a few hours, however ideally in a single day.

When able to cook dinner, dry the chops and sear them in a scorching forged iron pan, basting with butter, arduous herbs, and garlic. I shoot for a stable 145°F inside temp, however one of the best a part of brining is that it gives absolute insurance coverage in opposition to overcooking. Even over that medium candy spot, a brined pork chop will retain much more moisture than one merely salted and seasoned proper earlier than cooking.

As an added bonus, the pork can be seasoned from the within out, with the right salt degree and further taste from the brine’s spices and herbs (assume black peppercorn, garlic, and dill). That makes it an ideal pairing with a wealthy potato or cabbage dish. In this recipe), I serve it with each—potato and cabbage braised in a cream sauce with leeks, fortified with tangy whole-grain mustard and completed with recent dill.