Smoked Pork Chops

Pork chops are great for a quick dinner, whether you cook them in the skillet or on the grill.  Today I was smoking a pork butt for pulled pork over the weekend so I decided to add some chops to the smoker for tonight's dinner.  The chops were from a small half hog I purchased a couple months ago.  

The chops, which were about 3/4 inch thick, were simply salt and peppered on both sides and then placed on the rack in the smoker.

They stayed in the smoker at 250° for about 30 minutes (flipping about halfway through)  Once the internal temperature reached 145°, I pulled them and placed them on a cutting board under foil and a towel to rest for about 5 minutes.  This is not your grandmother's pork so you don't want to dry it out!  The National Pork Board recommends cooking pork chops to 145° for medium rare to 160° for medium.  By the time I sliced the chop, the juices were well distributed.

This was one juicy piece of pork!  

Even though I could have stopped there, I had warmed a little bit of honey with some fresh chopped rosemary and poured just a little over the top.  A side of spaghetti squash with sun dried tomatoes, toasted walnuts, Parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of butter and dinner was served.  Oh boy was it good!

You can buy smoked pork chops but smoking your own is so much better!  Enjoy!

Have the FRESHEST Boneless Pork Chops and SAVE

 

Several of our local grocers will advertise the half boneless pork loin at a  reduced retail. If you ask they will cut it up for you, but I prefer cutting them myself so that make sure I get the correct thickness of every chop.  And as you will see, we will get more than just chops from this boneless half pork loin.

The picture above shows two half boneless pork loins that we purchased from two different retailers.  As you notice the one on the left has some more fat on what we will call the thin end or the tail.  In the industry this is called a strap on pork loin. 

Just remember that some retailers will sell this pork loin with the strap on and this should cost you less per pound than the other pork loin without the fatter tail portion.

OK, let’s pick a pork loin and start cutting it the way we want to.  For today I am choosing the half boneless pork loin with the tail or strap on.  

First I am going to remove this tail.  You can use your fingers to find the natural seam that separates the lean meat from the fat and then use your knife as you see above to separate the fat from the lean.  Slowly working your knife down that seam so that you remove only the fat and none of the lean -- soon to be pork chop meat.

Now remember, the other pork loin did not have this fat tail and it looked like the one we now have here.  The fat tail portion can be used later for making sausage by adding it to some leaner pork, but for now we will just discard it and concentrate on the pork loin.

Let’s start by making our first cut from the end that most resembles the pork chop.  I like my pork chops about an inch thick.  

And now continue to cut boneless pork chops remembering to make smooth continuous cuts.

We want to avoid using the knife as we would a saw.  This will take a little practice but I know you can do it.

We can cut all this boneless pork loin into pork chops but not today as I feel like some boneless country style ribs.  These will be great for grilling or with some sauerkraut.

As you see in the picture below, we have cut 6 pork chops and have saved approximately a 5 - 6 inch piece that we will make into our country style ribs.  And just for future reference this piece would also make a very nice pork roast -- but not today.  Today it’s boneless country style ribs.

Let’s set these pork chops aside for now. I’ll cover them on a plate and place in the refrigerator to keep them cold.  They will be dinner tonight.

So now let’s make some country style ribs. Let’s take the piece you have left over and continue to cut what would be 1 ½ - 2 inch pork chops.

Now lay this chop down and cut in half as you see in picture below.

Continue doing this and we will end up with great ribs as seen in above picture. 

You’ve done it.  You have cut your half boneless pork loin into boneless pork chops and boneless country style ribs.

Now, let’s eat.