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Epicurious

Apple-Brined Double Cut Pork Chops with Sausage & Corn Bread Stuffing

This is one of the best ways we know to use up day-old corn bread. We mix it with spicy Italian sausage and stuff it into some bodacious pork chops to turn out one good-lookin’ dish for our Custom-Que menu.

Recipe information

  • Yield

    feeds 4

Ingredients

The Pork

4 center-cut pork loin chops, 2 inches thick, with a pocket (14 to 16 ounces each)
Olive oil
Black pepper
Mutha Sauce for basting (page 165)

The Stuffing

2 cups crumbled day-old corn bread (page 123)
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
Sprinkling plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Sprinkling plus 1 teaspoon black pepper
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound hot Italian sausage
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 teaspoons dried thyme

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Brine chops 8 to 24 hours before cooking using the Apple-Brine recipe and instructions (page 98).

    Step 2

    Fire up the grill and then make the stuffing. Dump the crumbled corn bread into a bowl and set aside. Grab a skillet and melt the butter in it over medium-high heat. Toss in the onions and peppers and season with salt and pepper. Cook til soft, then toss in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Strip the casing off the sausage and crumble it into the skillet. Cook til it loses its pink color, chopping and stirring constantly to break up the pieces. Scrape it all into the corn bread. Mix in the parsley, Pecorino Romano, and eggs and season it all with thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper.

    Step 3

    Take the chops out of the brine and dry them off. Push 3 large pinches of stuffing into the pocket of each chop. Really stuff it in there tightly, filling it nice and full. Brush the chops with olive oil and season both sides with pepper. See how the grill’s doing. Pile the coals to one side. Sear the chops directly over the coals, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Be careful not to overcook them at this point, because it will make them curl up.

    Step 4

    Slide the chops to the other side of the grill, away from the coals. Cover the grill and adjust the heat so that it’s about 350° inside. Cook the chops for 45 to 50 minutes. Take their temperature by inserting an instant-read thermometer horizontally into the meat, parallel to and close to the bone without touching it. When it reads 145°, baste the chops with the Mutha Sauce. Cover the grill again and continue cooking for another 10 minutes, or til the internal meat temperature reaches 150° (see Cookin’ Perfect Pork, page 95).

    Step 5

    Pull those plump babies off the grill and eat ‘em up without delay.

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que Ten Speed Press
TagsPork ChopPorkMeatSausagePecorinoCheeseDairyMainDinnerNut FreeGrillingChristmasCookbooks
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