Sous Vide Pork Loin Chops, Charcoal Finished

I've had a lot of chicken, beef and fatty pork cuts recently and I thought I'd change it up with some leaner cuts: A Pork Loin. This particular one from the butcher wasn't cheap, but it was near-identical to the dirt cheap $12 ones that Costco sells.

 First thing we do is portion is out and dry-brine it overnight in the fridge, uncovered. We essentially salt it heavily with Kosher salt then let it dry out. Dry-brining does not cause things to taste dry. The opposite, in fact, it will tenderize it and taste better and allow it to cook faster, resulting in an overall juicier end product.

The next day we put it in a vacuum bag and throw it in the Sous Vide. I put it at 133F which is about as low as I'd ever want to go for pork. I think it went for 8+ hours but you could go as short as 3 hours or as long as 12. Maybe longer, I don't have a lot of experience with long Sous Vide cooks yet. I understand that the longer it goes, the more rendered the fat will be, the more tender the meat will be. But go too long and it could over-render the fat and cause it to dry out.

 At around the 8 hour mark we took it out and cut it up into thick about 1-inch Pork Chops. 

 Now is the time to season it. I seasoned with Black Pepper only. Usually I like simple seasoned meat.

 Today we're going to use the little charcoal grill. We're going to get half a chimney of Kingsford briquettes rip-roaring hot and dump them in the grill. When they're burning fire hot, we'll put the chops on.

 

This is my $8 clearance grill. I could use my Weber Summit Kamado but sometimes I like to show that you don't need an expensive cooker to cook good food. Just an $8 grill and 50c worth of charcoal.

 Let the chops take the fire! Just flip them regularly, every 15 seconds or so at this point, and pull them off when they are visually done. You want a small little bit of black char and you want as much browning as possible.

The end result was absolutely perfect. The best Pork Chops I've made yet. Perfectly cooked interior, juicy, flavorful, and the fat was soft on the inside, crispy on the outside, and tasty. The flavor of the pork balanced well with the char and smokiness from the coals. 

Random note: I will not buy Smithfield Pork because it does not taste like pork to me. It tastes like nothing. For some reason their pork has almost no flavor. Swift is good, so is your local butch.

 

PS I got new casters for my grill table. Big Casters make rolling it SO MUCH EASIER. Don't cheap out on the casters!