Not Wordless Weds, Pork Loin Chop

Well, there are words today.  I found myself at The Fatted Calf in Napa, CA today and there they were, some incredible loin back chops. The Fatted Calf is, amongst many things, an artisanal butcher that offers very special cuts of pork from the heritage pig supplier. In this case, I selected a loin chop with the bone in and the fat back still attached.  Here is the unadorned chop...

Note the pale pink color of the meat and the pure white of the fat.  This is a very fresh cut of pork that is showing no signed of having sat around in a meat case.  I decided the best way to pursue this was a simple rub and some time in the kettle.  I used my top rub augmented with a small amount of Simply Marvelous Sweet and Spicy rub.

I did a light rub coating, I expected the pork taste would be excellent with this cut and did not want to over-dress the flavor with a strong spicy rub.  I ran the kettle up to sear the meat and then moved the meat off of the direct heat and lidded the smoker to keep it humming along around 300F.

This was plated with the grilled zucchini which received a light coating of seasoned pepper/salt mix and was grilled until almost soft.  I like my grilled vegetables to have a mild crunch.

A couple slices of garlic bread and you have dinner in all it's pork chop glory.  And here is the de riguer sliced detail shot.

It may not look like it, but, this was a very juicy cut with a distinct pork flavor.  A beautiful chop simply prepared makes for a nice dinner.