Stuffed Pork Chops

Submitted by HoChiWaWa

Here I make stuffed pork chops, the stuffing is an apple cornbread stuffing. I sort of winged it on this recipe so I didn't measure anything really, hopefully with the images and descriptions that won't matter much.

Ingredients

For the chops

• Big fucking pork chops
• Salt
• Sugar
• Spices

For the stuffing

• Shallot
• Apples (I used Crispens)
• Butter
• Cornbread
• Apple Cider
• Cider Vinager
• Thyme
• Mustard

Brine

First off take your pork chops and brine them. To make the brine I just threw a bunch of salt a good amount of sugar, some pepper corns, mustard seeds and red pepper flakes in a pot, brought it to a boil and cooled it back down with ice cubes. The brine should taste salty and not to sweet.

These are about 3 inches thick... seriously check them out next to my keys.

Fucking huge!

Making the Stuffing

Ok, while thats going lets get started on the stuffing, you will need dry/stale cornbread, I didn't have any so I made some up fresh, broke it up and dried it in a 250 degree oven.

Now for the apples and shallots, mince them up pretty small and toss them in a skillet on medium heat with a lot of butter.

You don't want to give them color, just get them nice, soft, and buttery.

Perfect!

Add the apple/shallot mixture to the cornbread along with some of thyme, a good bit of apple cider, and a splash of Cider vinager, I disolved half a teaspoon of coarse mustard in there too just for a little kick. You want the stuffing moist but not dripping, adjust liquid amounts to get the desired consistancy, the amount required will depend greatly on how dry your cornbread is, remember though, the drier the cornbread the more apple flavor we can get into the stuffing via cider and vinager.

Stuffing the Chops

Ok, the Stuffing is done, lets pull out our chops that have been brining for about an hour and pat them dry

Ok to make the pocket there is a trick, I will try and illustrate it for you.

The black lines represent how you insert the kinfe, the blue lines the knife path. Basically you insert the knife, and without moving the heel of the knife rotate it to cut a line through half the chop being sure not to go all the way through, remove the knife, flip it over and do the same to the other side, this leaves you with a large pocket with a small opening.

Ok, stuff them bitches!

Cooking

Get a heavy pan (preferably cast iron) really fucking hot, hit it with a bit of oil and toss those fuckers on.

Don't touch that chop for at least 3 minutes and as much as 5, once you have a good sear flip them and throw the pan into a 425 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, until an instant read thermometer says it is 5 degrees or so below your desired doneness.

Wrap them in foil and give them 5-10 minutes to rest, they should look something like this.

Oh god that looks good, shall we take a closer look?

Yes.

Oh man, thats awesome.

Serve it with a beer, I had a Great Lakes Dortmunder, it was great alongside these giant hunks of porky perfection.

Ok, heres the money shot I know you all want.

God damn that was fucking good.

Even though she was fully repaid in pork, a special thanks to TheLizard for providing the beer and taking pictures.