Skewered Pork Loin Rib Chops, Smoked and Seared

 

The other day Kenji Lopez-Alt did a video on youtube demonstrating cooking pork loin rib chops vertically, held together by a skewer. He went to his butcher and purchased extra thick chops. I however noticed the Safeway ad this week has these chops 1 inch thick for $1.69/lb. Yes please. I got two packs with 10 chops, and got to work.

Before skewering, season the meat all over with your seasoning of choice. I used a squirt of vietnamese fish sauce, Lawry's seasoned salt, and cayenne pepper on the flat surfaces, and then after skewering them all together, dusted fat cap on the outside of the ribs with kosher salt and black pepper. I then created a little space between each chop for the smoke to waft through. 

For structural integrity, I used 3 skewers going one direction, and 1 on the opposite direction thru the middle. In an ideal world, there would be a little more space between the chops, but I wanted to cook all 10 at once.

Place the meat on the indirect side of the grill, with a half can of lit coals and chunk of hardwood opposite. Cover and cook at about 250 degrees for an hour or until internal temperture on a center chop is 130 degrees.

After an hour the chops have nice color on the exposed surfaces, especially the fat cap which faced the fire. Uncover the grill and let the fire get glowing hot. Place the ribs directly over the fire to sear the underside of the ribs for about 5 minutes (covered.)

You can compress the meat together at this point to place it over the move concentrated fire, or move the meat skewer around so all the ribs get some fire time. This should be another couple minutes or so. Just make sure all rib undersides get aggressively licked by the flames on the uncovered grill. Look back at the rib at the top of the page--juicy, tender, and delicious! 

Were they good? You bet! Smokey with charred bits, and tender centers. The outside chop areas were outstanding on their own. The inner loin (the 2 inch very center of each chop could have used some more flavor, but that's what BBQ sauce is for :-) Next time I'll let the seasoning penetrate for longer. This cook was just run-to-the-store, season, and cook. 

Tri Tip...TADA!

Time for another chapter in the reverse sear book. This time it's a tri tip smoked for an hour and a half, then finished over the coals. Let's get started!

Light some charcoal and place a piece of smoking wood over the lit coals. Put some foil under the grate, and put the tri tip on. Cover and let the grill come up to 250-275 degrees. 

After an hour and half (or when the internal temperature hits 130 degrees, put the meat directly over the coals, covered for 4 minutes. Repeat with the other side. Take the meat off and rest it on a heated plate covered with foil for 10 minutes.

Slice it across the grain and enjoy!