Why Brine Pork Chops?
succulent brined pork cutlet
“to brine or not to brine that is the question…”
Blogging about food has opened my eyes to a wide divergence of tastes and ideas about food. Cultural influences are overt, personal tastes less so. Being part of an embracing Blogger community has opened the way to a more detailed scrutiny of food culture than travel would ever allow and it’s offered me a much more varied view than my regular social circle.
I’ve long been intrigued by recipes of American origin that advocated the brining of poultry before roasting although I confess I’ve never tried it myself. I remain convinced that a free range ethically raised bird cooked with care will always be moist and tender, but pork, that’s a different matter.
I’d all but given up cooking and eating pork chops. Because of the lack of fat marbling in the muscle structure of the loin, it errs toward dryness and that diminishes my enjoyment. After eating an amazingly succulent pork cutlet in a pub in Brisbane’s burbs a while ago I trialled a pre cook brine bath for pork chops and it made an incredible difference.
It’s hard to describe exactly how a pan fried or grilled, thick cut, lean portion of pork usually sweet and tasty but a little dry can become incredibly juicy simply by immersing it in a bowl of salted water for a few hours, but in a nutshell, it’s about osmosis.
The brine needs to be a little saltier than the meat’s natural state so that it’s absorbed, forcing moisture around the muscle fibres. The salts will then change the structure of the proteins resulting in beautiful moist and tender meat. A low concentration of salt will make a positive change, but if you use too much it will make your meat tough.
When I began experimenting with brining pork chops I used a simple salt solution with no added aromatics, then I began to I play around with adding cloves, bayleaf, allspice, juniper, peppercorns and fresh herbs, I even tried a brine solution of coffee.
There is nothing sophisticated in this process, but it elevates the humble pork chop to a sweet and juicy finger licking meal.
My Basic Everyday Brining Solution
250mls boiling water
4 tablespoons sea salt flakes
750mls iced water
2 boneless, thick cut mid loin pork cutlets
Dissolve the salt in the boiling water then make the volume up to 1 litre with iced water or even ice cubes.
Once the brine is cold, add the chops and allow to soak for a period of 1/2 hr or up to 4 hours in the refrigerator.
Drain the meat, pat the meat dry with paper towels and proceed with your recipe.
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29 comments on “Why Brine Pork Chops?”
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Please Pass the Recipe by Sandra Gay is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Please Pass the Recipe 
trying for the first time
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Good luck…
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Hi Sandra, how very clever! I must say, I don’t cook pork chops these days either, because I find them dry, no matter how they are cooked. Great post, thanks so much!
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You’re welcome Liz, it makes a huge difference
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I’m definitely going to try brining of chicken in the future. Modern chooks are so tasteless.
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The brine makes quite a difference Sherry, worth giving a go
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That photo answers the question. Lovely looking chop indeed Sandra.
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Thanks Conor, I’m a convert to brining
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Hi Sandra. I have never tried it before either but I will now. Thanks for the info.
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You’re welcome, the transformation is amazing 😀
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I am definitely going to try brining pork loin next time too. Great informative post!
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Thanks, you’ll be glad you did…
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You have intrigued me now. What was the coffee brine like? I also agree that pork chops tend to be dry and your solution (both meanings!) is right. I think that they tend to brine turkey in the US since it is also a dry meat – particularly the breast meat. I can see my future includes experimenting with brine!
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Ok, although the coffee seemed a bit pointless in the end. I wanted it to be much more than it was. The difference the brine makes to pork chops is amazing, not a step I will skip in the future
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What a great post – so interesting. I’ve never brined a pork chop before! Very keen to give it a go now.
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Thanks Tracey, be prepared for a happy surprise
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A worthwhile lesson from both you and Stefan . . . trying to keep my salt intake down have never attempted the methodology about which I have read from a number of sources – well, I use most of my pork in Asian dishes but when next serving pork chops shall surely try! Am glad for Stefan’s maths as I would not have been as careful about the amount of salt: this makes a lot of sense 🙂 !
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Thanks Eha, I’d all but given up on pork chops, but they are so succulent when brined first they are like different beast.
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PS dry salting will give you a similar result as using a brine, without diluting the pork’s natural juices
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For accurate results I’d calculate the salt for an equilibrium brine and weigh the salt. For instance: 500 grams pork plus 1 litre water = 1500 grams. If you put in 15 grams of salt, the initial salt concentration in the brine will be 1.5%. The salt will diffuse into the pork, until both pork and brine are 1% salt. Then the diffusion will stop by itself. It doesn’t matter if you leave the pork in the brine for a longer time. If you put more salt in the brine than the equilibrium amount, you need to take the pork out before it becomes too salty.
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Great info Stefan thanks, I’m afraid that nerdy numbers stuff is a bit beyond me.
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I’m a convert to the point that I find turkey inedible without brining. It follows that pork would benefit! I reckon loin fillet would be improved by this treatment too, as it can be a little dry due to lack of natural fat.
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The consensus seems to be that it worth brining turkey, add pork loin to the list, it can be consistently succulent too
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I used to wonder about brining too Sandra, but have now brined our Xmas turkey the last two years and am a complete convert 🙂 I haven’t tried other meat though, but I have to say that pork looks fabulous!
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Thanks Beck, I’m totally sold on this process for pork chops
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I have never used a brine but have been reading about it’s advantages. It appears that almost any meat could use this treatment. What a great idea. I will definitely try this!
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It’s an incredible improvement, do give it try
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Interesting, it’s never occurred to me to brine pork chops but I can see it working well. We brined our turkey at Christmas and even though it was a lovely, free range bird, it did make a difference. It made the meat firmer, while still tender, and easier to carve in elegant slices. Lx
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It seems the general consensus is that turkey benefits from a brine bath too, I’ll have to try it out. I’m amazed by the difference it makes to the pork loin cutlets
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