Pork Chop Brine

Including a good pork chop brine can be one of the best steps to level up your meat dish experience! You’ll need to only make the best use of some easily accessible seasoning and herbs to liven up your chops.

Makes about 4 cups of brine

Course Brine, seasoning

Cuisine American

Diet Gluten Free

Prep Time 3 10

Total Time 3 10

Servings

Calories 210kcal

Author Imma

Equipment

1 Large pot
1 large glass bowl

Ingredients

2 cups (475ml) chicken stock
¼ cup (72g) kosher salt
¼ cup (50g) brown sugar
2 teaspoons (5g) black peppercorns, cracked
4-6 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
2 sprigs thyme
1 orange, sliced
2 cups (475ml) ice water
4 pork chops (rib chops are the most tender)

Instructions

Heat the chicken broth in a large pot. Add the salt, sugar, cracked peppercorn, and garlic and stir until the salt and sugar dissolve.
Add the bay leaves, thyme, and orange slices. Stir in 2 cups of ice water.
Place the pork chops in the pot, making sure they're submerged in the brine solution.
Cover the pot or container with a lid. Place the pork to brine in the fridge for 1-3 hours, but not over 24 hours, as the meat will become too mushy and salty.
Remove the pork chops from the brine, then rinse and pat dry before cooking.

Notes

Brined meats tend to cook faster, so a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat is a reasonable precaution.
Brining for 3-4 hours is the sweet spot. You can over brine meat, so keep that in mind.
An easy way to adjust the amount of brine is remembering that it's 34 grams of salt to a liter of water and stock.
For your food safety, please discard the brine solution after use.
You can also dry brine pork chops by generously salting your pork chop and letting it sit uncovered in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours. Rinse, pat dry, season, and cook.
Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.

Nutrition