Pork Chop Help, Please!

D

dawnnys

Well-known member
I am - as we speak - bring pork chops for dinner tonight. Trouble is, I sort of combined recipes in my head and followed a recipe for a marinade, and thought, "Oh, this needs more salt since I am brining it!"

So I added more salt, enough to equal the sugar in the recipe, as you would if bringing. Left the house, came to work, and realized that I didn't add any water as you do whehn you brine... now I am thinking that it will be WAY too salty, and am wondering if there is anything I can do to save them (in about 4 hours, when I get home!).

I know a good rinse under water before I cook them will help, but do you think something more would help them? Thanks in advance!

Recipe was:

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp soy sauce

2 Tbsp sugar

2 cloves garlic

fresh thyme

black pepper

"salt to taste" - that should'a been a clue to me!

I'll let you know how they turn out!

 
Thanks, but I won't be home for a few hours, so they are already marinating in the...

salty solution. Do you think they will be too salty to eat? Can I do anything now (or "then", when I get home)?

 
Well, I rinsed them off good and patted them dry...

They smelled great! I cooked them over medium heat on the stovetop (I was going to broil them, but it was too hot and humid last night, and with all the rain, grilling was out of the question!).

I never cut into anything so tough! It was like trying to eat a brick! So I scooped them up off of everyone's plate, put them in the food processor, and made a crumbled topping for the baked potatoes I had planned to have anyway. A little sour cream and broccoli chunks, diced tomatoes, and some cheese sprinkled on top made pretty and good stuffed potatoes.

They tasted good, but I think I "reverse-brined" them, if there is any such thing... not having the water to "go into" the meat made what liquid was in them seep out into the marinade, I think, leaving them dry and tough.

Next time I'll know better.

 
Interesting article in the July/August Cook's Illustrated on dry brining.

According to their research, brining for 3 hours caused the chicken in their test to be dryer than when they started. However, they said that brining it for 6 hours was a different story, that "the exterior salt had pulled so much water to the surface that the balance of the salt concentration had changed. To restore equilibrium, the water simply changed directions, flowing back into the meat. But this time--and here's the key--the dissolved salt went along for the ride. Essentially, we had 'brined' the chicken using its own juices instead of a bucket of water."

They went on to say that water soluble flavorings flowed back in also. I expect to see more research from them on dry brining, a method I've seen used in Fine Cooking Magazine as well.

As an after note...I'm only reporting, people. I know from nothing, just read the article, was a bit intrigued by the method, and reminded of it when I read Dawn's post. As I've said before, curious minds and all that. And I suppose the vinegar, olive oil and soy sauce might lead to this not qualifying as a dry brine.

 
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