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Ingredients
- Brine ingredients:
- 4 12-ounce Berkshire pork chops
- 1 tablespoon grape seed oil (to brush on chops before grilling)
- 2 cups apple cider
- 2 tablespoons fenugreek seeds (can be purchased in health food store or online) steeped in 1/2 cup hot water
- 1 Star anise pod
- 1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 cup cane sugar
- 1/3 cup salt
- Red Eye gravy:
- 1/2 cup diced bacon
- 1 cup coffee (I use decaf at dinner time)
- 2 tablespoons demi-glace (for richness)
- 1-2 tablespoons good quality maple syrup (depending on desired sweetness)
- Salt as needed for balance
Details
Servings 4
Preparation
Step 1
Brining:
Place all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a boil to dissolve sugar and salt. Remove from heat and mix with 1 quart cool water. Before brining your protein, be sure to chill the brine thoroughly to keep food safe. Place 4 chops into chilled brine and refrigerate for a minimum of 8 hours, but 24 is better. Remove from the liquid and rinse. Pat dry and let rest uncovered in refrigerator for 2 hours. Again, results are better if able to air dry overnight
When ready to cook, brush chops with oil (do not season with salt, the brine has done that for you) grill 3 minutes, and turn a quarter turn let cook for 2 minutes more. Turn over chop and repeat proce¬dure. Remove from heat when achieving desired doneness and let rest for 5 to
10 minutes tented in foil. Serve sliced finished with red eye gravy.
Red eye gravy
In small sauce pot brown the bacon. De¬glaze the pan with coffee. Get all the good bits up off the bottom. Reduce by half and add the demi-glace. Bring to a simmer, then add the maple syrup. Continue cook¬ing until sauce coats the back of a spoon. Adjust with salt if necessary. Serve with char-grilled pork chops.
Serves 4.
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