I thought about you when I made these pork chops Tuesday night. A pretty simple weeknight smoke on the gas grill but it came out so good I decided to post the pics.

I got 1 1/2" thick pork chops cut for me at the local Carneceria. I've given up on the local grocers - none of them have meat that hasn't been shipped in already wrapped. El Carnecero cut these chops off a giant side of pork and trimmed the fat just so.

I rubbed them with the rub I make - am interenet rub but with only a fraction of the sugar:



Here's the setup. I think you said you have the little cast iron box. I used apple wood because I had some but I suspect any fruit wood would work:



With the right hand burner turned to high and no other burners on my cheap Charmglow grill makes a steady 190 degrees. It's a little low for smoking but the upside is that it takes longer and the meat gets more smoke. I pulled the chops off at 143 - 2 degrees under the recommended internal temp of 145. I then seared it hard in cast iron over the side burner on the grill. Searing pork in the house upsets my wife no end. The side burner is the hot ticket.



Finish temp was 147. Perfect! Maybe the best chops I have ever done. 2 hours start to finish.

Funny you should mention that. I made this last night:



I got another "pork loin chunk" from the Asian market. This one was about a pound and a quarter.

Yesterday morning, I whipped up a marinade with:
Mirin
Rice Vinegar
Soy Sauce
Garlic
Mustard
Ginger
Red Pepper

Basically a fusion of Adagio's recipe and my bulgogi marinade.

I let the meat marinate all day -- about nine hours.

I heated up the grill to about 600. I seared the meat for two minutes on each side. Then I turned the center burner off and the left and right burners to low (so, LOL) and put the meat in the middle oriented parallel to the burners so this time, it would cook evenly side-to-side. I did leave the grill open for a minute or two to cool down. I think it was about 325.

I came back after 15 minutes and flipped it -- and dumped half of the marinade over the meat.

I came back after another 15 minutes and stuck the thermometer in it. 145 degrees on the nose. I flipped it again and dumped the rest of the marinade over the other side and left it for just a minute or two.

Again, I sealed it in foil and let it sit about 15 minutes while I finished my salad.

It was moist and tender and done perfectly.

The only problem is that again it was pretty salty. I have a low tolerance for salt. I love eating salty stuff, but an hour later I feel like I need to drink a couple gallons of water. So, next time, less soy sauce and don't dump the marinade over it while it's grilling.

Progress is being made.

Looks great!

I will try a couple of the Mexican carnicerias in the area and see what they have in the way of pork parts.


Oh, and, I need to try a different knife. The loin was so tender, it was hard to cut with even a super-sharp schinkenmesser... it just squished. I thought it wasn't done... it was done... it was just too darned tender.

We was pretty poor when I was growing up, so we had meat that had to be cooked until it was nearly carbonized to be edible. I grew up eating pork chops that were pretty leathery. Cooking better meat and cooking it properly is something that's going to take some getting used to.

Yum

My mom was a great cook but she absolutely massacred pork and rarely served it. Everyone worried about trichinosis back then.

Now I understand you are more likely to get sick from chicken than from pork.

Get a room!