Assorted Bone-in Pork Chops

How often are you at the store and pass by a screaming deal on assorted bone-in pork chops? Seems like every other week these things are on sale at one chain or another for something less than $2/lb. These are so quick and easy to cook, and for that price, they really can't be beat. Even if you you're feeding someone who doesn't want bone-in chops, you cut the meat off the bone of a loin rib chop, and then you get the cook's prerogative of gnawing on the bone yourself.

My basic quick easy way to cook these guys is to season them an hour or so before cooking and them put them right on a direct fire for about 3 minutes a side (these are skinny 1/2 inch chops.

This package had 4 rib loin chops, 2 t-bone chops (loin/fillet), and 2 shoulder chops. You can go any direction with the seasoning from the simplest Lawry's seasoned salt and cayenne, to a home made rub, to a wet marinade (Korean BBQ flavors would ROCK!)

To get good color and a little charring on these puppies, I had the grill open until flare-ups occurred--about 2 minutes on super hot coals, then cover for another 90 seconds and flip. Cook for another 3 minutes and remove them to rest for a few minutes in a warm pan. Serve with some BBQ sauce or just scarf them down. Sometimes I mop them with sauce on the grill to finish them, but too often I lose too much sauce that way. 

Ribs Again

Hey, we've been down this road over and over and over. But ribs keep coming in, and keep getting cooked, and keep getting eaten. I picked up some St. Louis cut ribs in a 3-slab pack at Costco Business, home of large format meat. Toweled them dry and cut each slab in half, then rubbed with a mixture of Diamond kosher salt, ground black pepper, red chili pepper flakes, smoked paprika, dried oregano, a little garlic powder, and a little ground white pepper (to complete the holy pepper trifecta (not counting the paprika).

Next I loaded the ribs onto the Weber with the Slow 'N Sear charcoal holder, and a Weber rib holder. Topped the charcoal with a hunk of cherry (I'm detecting a theme here), and closed the lid, getting the temperature to 275 degrees.

After an hour and a half, I spun the ribs 180 degrees (so top went to bottom, and front went to back) and closed the lid for another hour and a half at 250 to 275 degrees.

After the end of 3 hours total on the grill, unload the ribs into a hotel pan (or whatever will fit them) and cover tightly with foil. Place the pan in a 225 degree oven for between 1 and 2 hours, until the meat is practically falling off the bone. 

For those who want to work for their food, the ribs can be eaten without the going-in-the-oven step, but they are way more toothsome (al dente, steak-y) that way. Your monkey, your circus--enjoy them how you want. 

Pastrami

 For an easy pastrami, I recently picked up a bunch of meat-on-sale corned beef brisket points. After rinsing them off and drying them, I coated them in a thin layer of yellow mustard, and covered with equal parts of spice-grinder ground black pepper corns and coriander seeds.

Place the meat on the grill. As usual I'm using the Weber kettle, a Slow 'N Sear charcoal holder, and a chunk of cherry wood for smoke. The temp was about 275 for 4 hours.

After 4 hours, wrap in pink butcher paper and place back on the grill or in a 250 degree oven for 2 hours.

And finally, slice against the grain and enjoy in a fat stacked sandwich with sauerkraut and mustard!