Heritage-breed pork chops cooked in the reverse-sear method are amazingly tender, juicy, and flavorful. Cooking pork chops to white is a sin; pink is perfect and an internal temperature between 150° and 155° is ideal.
— Mike Mills
Sub-recipes include:
Steakhouse Shake
Top-Shelf Bourbon Butter
• ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith and Mike discuss this recipe during The Faith Middleton Food Schmooze®. •
Excerpted from PRAISE THE LARD by Mike Mills and Amy Mills. Copyright © 2017 by Mike Mills and Amy Mills. Photo: Copyright © 2017 by Ken Goodman. Used by permission of Rux Martin Books / Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 bone-in pork chops (¾ to 1 pound each, 1½ to 2 inches thick; preferably Duroc or another heritage breed)
- Steakhouse Shake (see recipe link in headnote)
- Top-Shelf Bourbon Butter (see recipe link in headnote), chilled for serving
Servings: -6 people
Instructions
- Up to 40 minutes prior to cooking, generously sprinkle the chops with shake on both sides. Set the chops on a baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you’re ready to put them on the cooker.
- Set up the cooker for indirect-heat smoking: Open the top and bottom vents. Load a charcoal chimney one-quarter full of charcoal and light it. When the coals in the chimney are glowing, dump them on one side of the cooker. Set the wood on top of the coals, replace the grate, and put the chops over the side with no coals (the indirect cooking area). Close the lid.
- Don’t open the cooker for 15 minutes, but keep a close eye on the temperature (see page 84 for how best to assess and monitor cooker temperature); when it reaches 200°, which might happen very quickly, close the vents about halfway so that less air comes in to feed the fire and the heat in the cooker rises slowly. Let the temperature climb to between 225° and 250°. Maintain your target temperature. If at any point the temperature climbs above your target, close the top and bottom vents further so that even less air comes in to feed the fire.
- After 15 minutes, open the cooker and use an instant-read thermometer to check the internal temperature of the thickest part of a chop; you’re looking for a slow and steady climb to 145°. This will take no longer than 30 minutes.
- After you check the meat temperature, reload the chimney halfway with charcoal and light it. You’ll soon need these additional hot coals to sear the chops at the finishing stage, after they’re done smoking.
- When the chops reach 145°, set them aside on a baking sheet. Working quickly, add the hot coals and spread them out all over the bottom of the cooker. Replace the grate and put the chops back on the cooker. Sear for a minute or two on each side, just until a brown crust forms and the internal temperature is between 150° and 155°. Pull the chops off the cooker, top each with a slice of bourbon butter, and serve.
