The 4th of July always brings several thoughts to my mind. First and foremost is, how lucky I am to live in the greatest country in the world. A country made great by the people that fought for our independence and all the men and women since that have fought to maintain our freedom. The 4th of July also brings thoughts of hot weather, summer fun and good BBQ. Having always lived in the South and Midwest I have come to expect the temperature to be scorching hot the first week of July. This year has been no different, as the last week has consistently been 100 plus degrees. When making my 4th of July plan I decided a shorter cook on the grill would probably be more enjoyable than a long cook on the smoker which would require hours of attention.
A while back I had noticed an article on a restaurant that featured one of their signature dishes, which was a Double Cut Pork Chop. Having several bone in pork loins in the freezer, I thought this would make for a new and interesting dish. I decided I would do some research and look for a recipe that had some of my favorite things in it. When I search for recipes I look for a recipe with key ingredients, spices and veggies with flavor profiles that are familiar to me.This is a Food Network Kitchens recipe that was developed for use with Double Cut Pork Chops so though it will be new to me, it has been tried and it had 22 out of 22 "5 Star Reviews". I will make a couple of small tweaks to the recipe that I will point out later, The recipe calls for a dry rub on the chops with marinating time and a basting sauce applied at the end of the cooking process.
We will start by making the dry rub. It calls for equal parts of Brown Sugar, Paprika, Coarse Ground Black Pepper and I used a half part of Kosher Salt.
This is a cut of pork that I have used many times. I have posted a blog on this same cut as a Smoked Rack of Pork. Today I will be cutting 4 Double Cut Pork Chops. This will produce a cut that can stand up to a longer cook to add that nice slow cooked flavor and still be seared and charred a bit to give the effect of a chop that has been grilled much faster with high heat.
I put a light coat of grape seed oil on each chop and applied a nice size dose of dry rub. I will wrap them in plastic wrap and return them to the refrigerator to marinate for approximately 6 hours.
The pork will have a multifaceted flavor profile that should go sweet, then tangy and finish off with some heat. That makes me think Caribbean so I chose a Cuban Inspired Black Bean dish to pair with it. I soaked 1lb of Dry Black Beans overnight. I know I will need Bell Pepper, Onion, Garlic, Cumin and Salt.
I kept putting more ingredients on the cutting board as I thought out how I want these beans to interact with the Pork Chops. I added a couple of Bay Leaves, Mexican Oregano, Diced Serrano Pepper, a mixture of Chopped Green Onions and White Onion.
The beans have been cooking for approximately 45 minutes so I sauteed my veggies and added them to the beans at about the one hour mark. The beans were perfectly tender after a little more than 90 minutes. I will let them sit and cool, them reheat at dinner time. The resting time gives extra time for all the flavors to meld together.
The basting sauce for the Pork Chops is what attracted me to this dish. At first glance it gives the appearance of being very sweet. We have Ketchup, Apple Juice, Brown Sugar, Maple Syrup, and Bourbon, which is very high in sugar content. To balance it, there is Apple Cider Vinegar, Worcestershire, Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper and Onion. Then there was the wild card of Prunes. I was totally unfamiliar with using Prunes in a sauce but I wanted to follow the recipe. Due to our love of heat and spice I added extra Cayenne Pepper and Red Pepper Flakes. The Onion is diced and sauteed in butter, then the Brown Sugar and Cider Vinegar goes in and cooks until dissolved; all other ingredients go in and and you bring it to a boil. The temperature is reduced and it simmers for approximately 30 minutes to thicken the sauce. I then transfer the sauce to a blender so the onion and prunes are pureed.
The finished product is a beautiful sauce that has a thick velvet consistency. The sauce tastes, as my wife said "very different". It had that multifaceted flavor that I was looking for and the cook knows that this sauce will change as as it caramelizes in the basting process over high heat. Ultimately this Pork Chop will be flavored by the collaboration of the dry rub, the basting sauce and all the goodness of slow cooked pork with a hot sear at the end.
I will be cooking the chops on the Primo XL, therefore I will be making another small alteration to the recipe. If I was cooking these on a regular kettle grill I would sear the chops over the fire and then move them over to a cooler area of the grill to finish cooking the chop thoroughly. Ceramic grills maintain heat so well, that if you take it up to a good temperature for searing it is hard to get the temperature down for finishing the cooking process The counter for this is a reverse sear, where you cook the meat at a lower temperature and then when the internal temperature reaches 80 to 85 percent of the target temperature you crank the heat up very quickly and sear as the meat finishes to the target temperature. I cooked these chops indirect at 240 degrees until they were all at 125-130 degrees, at which point I ran the temperature on the grill up to 380-400 degrees and moved the chops over the fire to sear, then baste and finish at 145 degrees internal.
Double Cut Pork Chops, served with Cuban Inspired Black Beans and Grilled Peaches and Cream Corn. I have paired it with one of our favorites, Willamette Valley Vineyards Pinot Noir 2008. The first hint I had that this was a successful cook was when my wife said, you might not need a knife. The knife glided through the 3" thick Double Cut Pork Chop, producing mouth watering slices of the best, that pork has to offer. The pairing of the dry rub and the basting sauce was absolutely perfect. The Food Networks Kitchens hit a home run with this recipe and I would recommend it to all. The Black Beans were outstanding and with the Corn on the Cob, formed the perfect complimentary sides. This meal was a 10!
This was a great 4th of July spent with my beautiful wife Peggy and daughter Mechelle. It was just what I envision for a 4th of July celebration. It was hot, there were a couple of ice cold beers, there was great food and family, and at the end of the evening while sitting on the deck, the smell of gun powder permeated the night air. Despite all of our current problems, we still live in the greatest country in the world. Until I see you again I wish you all, the opportunity to get into the great outdoors and fire up that grill!
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