Cherry-Citrus Pork Chops

Cherry-Citrus Pork Chops

Beauty in Simplicity

Difficulty: Medium

Inactive time: 12-48 hours | Cooking time: 45 minutes

Serves 4

Pork chops are a quintessentially American classic: delicious, juicy, and simple enough for a weeknight, but elegant enough for a date night. Don’t be fooled though. While it may appear to be a simplistic, bare-bones dish on the surface, there are more than a few ways to elevate and bring depth to this home-style meal. Pork of even the highest quality cuts has a tendency to dry out during cooking and more often than not, are in dire need of seasoning.

Enter the brine; a salty-sweet bath of bloomed, fragrant spices and herbs used to infuse the meat with all the wonderful flavors you put into the water, soak for anywhere from a few hours to two days that both seasons the final product and helps it retain moisture for a succulent, complex cut of pork. The prep work takes only a few minutes of your time a day or two in advance, but the work is well-worth it. This recipe is going to be using a citrus-herb blend of flavors, paired with a cherry-orange sauce. Aside from the salt, you can use whatever blend of spices and herbs you’d like, to make just about any flavor out of the brine. 

The Recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Sauce

   1. 1 pound (450 grams) sweet cherries

   2. 2/3 cup of sugar

   3. ½ cup good quality white wine

   4. Zest of one grated orange

   5. 1 Tbsp flour

   6. 1 Tbsp butter

   7. ⅓ cup white wine vinegar

   8. 2 Tbsp dried or fresh rosemary

   9. Black pepper to garnish

2. Brine

   1. 4 double or thick-cut pork chops, about 3-4 pounds (1.5-1.8 kilos)

      1. Try to get the bone-in ribeye or t-bone cuts, these have necessary fat to help the chops brown and retain moisture better

   2. 2.5 liters (2500 g) water

   3. ¼ cup kosher salt

      1. After some experimentation with salinity, we found the general rule of about ¼ cup per 2 and a half liters water tend to be a good balance point, but the brine should taste only slightly saltier than how you want your pork to taste (and of course, taste BEFORE you put the pork in)

   4. 1 ripe orange

   5. 1 small bunch each of rosemary and thyme (or about 2 tbsp each dried)

   6. 1 whole head of garlic, halved

   7. ¼ cup brown sugar

   8. 3 tbsp whole black peppercorns

   9. 2 tbsp allspice 

The Process:

Pork Chops:

1. A few hours to up to two days in advance, bring the water up to a boil and peel your orange with a fruit peeler, reserving the peel and trying to minimize the amount of white skin left on them

2. Once the water is boiling, add the salt and sugar (be wary of boiling over) and stir to dissolve. Once dissolved, turn off the heat and add in the garlic, peppercorns, allspice and herbs

3. Crumple up the orange peels gently to release the citrusy oils and flavors before adding to the water, along with a squeeze of orange juice from the now peeled orange

4. Once the water is cooled, add the pork and if letting it brine for more than 4 hours, refrigerate until ready

5. Day of cooking, if the pork is refrigerated, take them out to bring up to room temperature and remove from brine onto a rack on a baking sheet

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and once hot, place the chops in the oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until the temperature reads about 120 degrees in the thickest part

7. When the pork is almost ready, preheat a heavy cast-iron skillet or a large stainless steel pan with a drizzle of vegetable oil over medium-high heat

8. Take the pork out of the oven and gently pat dry with some clean paper towels

9. Sear all pieces on both sides, and sear the fat cap on the sides, until proper browning is achieved and the internal temperature reads about 145

10. Serve with a generous portion of cherry-wine sauce

The Sauce:

1. Halve and pit the cherries, discarding pits and mincing about half the pieces and keeping the other pieces intact

   1. Note: The pits do contain trace amounts of cyanide, so take care not to break any while pitting as they can be dangerous

2. In a small bowl, mix the flour and butter together with a butter knife until the flour creates almost like a soft, homogenous dough. This will help thicken our sauce

3. Take a heavy iron skillet or medium-sized stainless steel pan and add in the sugar over low-medium heat to melt the sugar, stirring regularly with a spatula

4. Melt the sugar until just melted and add in the minced cherry flesh, herbs, and zest

5. Stir around for about minute and add your white wine, then stirring to dissolve 

   1. The sugar will seize up and turn hard but it will eventually dissolve, just keep stirring

6. Add the vinegar and the butter-flour mixture, similarly dissolving

7. Add in the intact cherries and add enough water to come up to about halfway up the cherries

8. Cover the pan and let simmer for about 5 minutes or the cherries are soft

9. Boil down or add water as necessary to achieve a consistency thin enough to pour but only just thick enough to coat the back of a spoon

10. Pour over top of the pork at serving, garnishing optionally with a fresh twist of black pepper