Plum braised pork chops

Main Dish, Pork
Prep time: 80 minutes
Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

  • 1 cup kosher salt
  • 6-8 bone-in pork chops
  • 6 oz plum jelly
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2-3 cloves garlic
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Directions

Brine the chops

The day before you make this, brine the chops by mixing 1 cup of kosher salt (note: kosher salt measures differently. If using sea salt or table salt, use only 3/4 cup) in one gallon of cold water, as cold as you an get it. Place the chops in the water and put into a tight container. (I have a large, 2 gallon tupperware-style container I use just for brining). Place in the refrigerator and brine overnight.

When done, pour off the water and thoroughly rinse the brine off the chops.

The braise

Lay the chops out in a baking dish. A 9x14 dish will hold 6 comfortably.

Mix the jelly, vinegar and garlic with a whisk. I may have added some onion as well, but I forget.

Pour the liquid over the pork chops; they should not be completely submerged, but about 1/2-3/4 will be beneath the liquid. Make sure some of the liquid is on top, though. Cover with foil and put in the oven for an hour.

Notes

It's perfectly possible to add more flavor to the brine, but be wary of acids; they change the ratio of salt to water, and that ratio is critical. Too much salt and the chops absorb too much and get overly salty. Not enough and there's no osmosis and the brine has no effect.

This was purely experimental, I am sure that there are many things that would make excellent flavor components here. In my case, the jelly was homemade so I know that it was an extremely pure jelly, too.