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Friday, October 29, 2010

Pork Chops on the grill griddle

Well, what is a BBQ guy supposed to do when he still cannot easily get to his cooker?  He can grill indoors, at least he gets to use his spice mix, gets those nice stripes on the meat and see a little smoke.  I bought some Niman Ranch pork chops, gave them a good rub with the spice rub I normally use as a base for pork butts, but with a little salt and black pepper added to complete the flavor profile.  One of the things I noticed that cause me to choose these chops was the pure bright white fat rim, this tells me these chops are fresh, always want to see a nice white layer of fat, yellowed or cracked fat is a sure sign of old meat.  Anyways, here they are resting with a bit of rub on them.
The grill pan was brought to heat, I wanted as high a heat as possible, even though these look thick, they will cook fast over direct heat. I like to bring pork to a slightly lower level of being done than normally recommended by the USDA. I feel since I am buying pork raised with good practices, I can cook it to just past medium rare.  Ideally I will get them to where there is just a barely detectable pink hint. Here they are on the grill.
And yes, I used this shot because you could see the smoke coming off the griddle.  They ran about 5 minutes a side, with a little oil on each side to aid in heat transfer and browning.  The plate, I ate one tonight, gotta watch that protein!
These were tasty, there was a detectable crunch to the outside, while the inside stayed moist and tender.  I love simple food like this, a little bit of collards and some grilled whole wheat bread and the meal was complete.  Well....not quite...


There was this little eclair, which found it's way home today from A Taste of Denmark Bakery in Oakland, CA.  This is an old bakery, once known as Neldam's Bakery, anyone who grew up in Oakland or the East Bay most likely knows of this place, it was a stalwart of birthdays and holidays for decades. It was old when I was born.  A few months ago, years of financial hardship ended with the old owner's finally having to shut down.  The landlord and head baker decided to give it a go with a different approach and this is what they are producing once again.
I am nothing if not supportive of local businesses.

3 comments:

  1. Golden Joe was immediately concerned when the first two sentences were in 3rd person. Fortunately this didn't persist.

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  2. From looking at those chops, I'm convinced that learning to cook on live fire out doors teaches you how to cook better when limited in doors. Because those are some very good looking chops.

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  3. We thank Chris and Joe for their comments. We are pleased that the chops are good looking.

    ReplyDelete