pork chops like whoa

Tonight is Wednesday.  So like half of the Wednesdays since July, I cooked pork chops.  That is not an embellishment.  Since Anne Burrell came into my life over the summer, and showed me the way to perfectly prepared pork chops, I have eaten them at least every other week.

Since you're still reading, I assume you're interested. The link to the recipe is below. I cook mine a little differently. Since I hate using the bbq at my place, because of the neighbor situation, I cook mine under the broiler (more on that later). But the brine is pretty much the same, give or take some of the spices (where the hell does one find fennel pollen).

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/anne-burrell/brined-pork-chops-with-soft-parmigiano-polenta-recipe/index.html

Anyways, while I was at McKinnon's on Sunday, getting some short ribs, I also picked up a pack of bone-in, center cuts. And good God, the cuts at McKinnon's are ridiculous. They're about 1-1/2" to 2" thick and absolutely beautiful. After I got the ribs started, I spent a few minutes prepping my chops. Threw them in the brine and pretty much forgot about them until last night. "Ooh, I got pork chops for tomorrow night!" Needless to say, I was periodically salivating today, anticipating them in all their glory. After work & the gym, I got started.

Back to the broiler: Some people (myself included) have had problems burning the hell out of anything they put under there with the rack at the top position. To prevent that, you might put the rack one rung lower. But then you might as well run whatever your cooking under hot water instead. So, what I've been doing, which seems to work out pretty well, is to set the rack at the second position, then putting an upside down cookie sheet on top of that to get to an in between position. Also, since manufacturer's don't want people burning their houses down, they program the broiler to turn off at a certain temp. To prevent the burner from turning off, I put a little roll of foil at the top of the door to prop it open, giving the heat somewhere to escape.

With everything set up, I put the pork on the rack, inside a roasting dish, and put that on the cookie sheet. Seven minutes on each side under the broiler. That'll give it a great char. After that, I turn the broiler off and put the oven at 350, fully close the door and let it go until the pork reaches 160 (about 10-15 more minutes).

Try it out for yourself. Maybe you'll end up eating pork chops every other week....