Mar 16 2014
Spring time yesterday, I put my long johns back on today! It was a cold windy 28 deg. day. The kids were having a day out so dropped the grandson off at 8:30 am.
I baked a loaf of peasant bread from my fourth batch of Bread in 5 dough this morning. It has some rye and wheat flour added to the white flour. The loaf turned out pretty good.
After lunch I smoked a specialty loaf of meat for my Tuesday night supper. My son had requested it. It took me an hour 45 minutes to do.
The wife and I were hungry for pork chops; I had three nice center cut chops from my butcher. We usually have fried potatoes and applesauce with chops. One of my favorite blogs “Cowgirls Country Life” always does hers by rubbing on Morton Tender Quick then rinses it off after an hour. I wanted to try that but she never told how much to use.
I looked on the Morton site and they had a recipe for chops and called them Gepockelte, German style cured pork chops. It said to use ½ to ¾ inch pork chops, 1 Tbs. Tender Quick per pound. Rub on and wrap or place in a plastic bag then in the fridge for 1 to 2 hours then rinse well. Brown up chops then place in a covered dish with ¼ cup of water in a 350 deg. oven for 45min. to an hour. After I rinsed the chops I lightly sprinkled on some Mo Rockin chicken rub. I have cooked chops that way for a long time without the cure and that works well to. Maybe Wing Commander will pop in and tell us how authentic these are.
I already had my smoker uncovered so I wanted to try and sear the chops on my grill grates. I had my Traeger a steady 379 deg. so put the chops on for 8 minutes then turned for another 8 minutes. I got them in the oven and then heated a skillet with olive oil and butter and browned up some Ore Ida frozen hash browns. The chops were in the oven for 40 minutes. I didn’t get the sear I wanted but they turned out good.
I served everyone and we had some peasant bread and butter. We all like the chops, the grandson ate almost all of his chop and two slices of bread. I usually do a wet brine on my chops when doing on the smoker but this is quicker and tastier I think. I looked at several recipes and none used any more seasoning other than the Tender Quick. I think the Mo Rockin chicken rub did add to the flavor.
Peasant bread
Chops cured and Mo Rockin added
After a sear on my Traeger, Grill grates
Bread sliced
Chops are done
My supper
Smokin Don
