The Best Pork Chop Marinade
A marinade is something used in steaks and other cuts of meat.
This is the best ever pork chop marinade that you can use to make your food even tastier.
The best thing about a marinade is that it does not only add flavors to your food.
It can often make the meat even more tender when you do it properly and with the right ingredients.
Porkchop is one of the best cuts of meat that you can get as it absorbs flavor very well.
Because the fats on the meat also do not dry up when you cook it at high heat.
However, you can easily mess up the recipe if you do not marinate it the proper way.
There are times when the meat becomes too tender and will fall apart when cooked.
There are also times when you might get the marinade to be too strong and it somehow makes the outer parts of the meat too tender.
This can result in the porkchop sticking to the grill.
So here, we will take a look at how to make the best marinade for your pork chops and make sure that you do it properly so that you do not get the results that we are trying to avoid.
Grilling The Pork Chops On Your Grill
One of the challenges that you face when you cook pork chops on a grill is that they might get too dry.
They also tend to become dry, undercooked, or overcooked which is not the way to go.
To cook the pork chops properly, you need to ensure that you get to have that juiciness and tenderness once cooked. You need to set and prepare it properly.
You should not go with too much heat or cook it for too long.
The same goes with marinating it as you need to perfectly time how much you would want the flavor to be induced in the meat.
When you grill the pork chops, make sure to keep the grill temperature at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can go as low as 350 degrees and as high as 450 degrees but nothing below or over.
At 400 degrees, you need to grill the pork chops for 8 to 12 minutes depending on the thickness of the pork chops.
Make sure to also prepare a meat probe for measuring the doneness.
To cook the pork chops at a proper temperature, the middle or the thickest part of the pork chops should read an internal temperature of at least 140 degrees Fahrenheit.
Flip the pork chops every 2 minutes or halfway to make sure that the heat gets through the meat and cooks the coldest part in the middle.
Do not open the grill lid frequently.
The Best Pork Chop Marinade Recipe
What You Will Need
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 3 teaspoons of brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons of spicy brown mustard
- 2 teaspoons of dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon of white wine sugar
- 1 teaspoon of mesquite-flavored seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried parsley flakes
- 1/3 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
Step 1: Mix The Ingredients
Put the garlic, brown sugar, brown mustard, lemon juice, thyme, onion powder, Worcestershire sauce, white wine sugar, mesquite seasoning, salt, parsley flakes, pepper, and olive oil a bowl.
Get a whisk and then mix all the ingredients.
Ensure that the flakes and pepper evenly coat the pork chops and the other dry ingredients such as the sugar and salt dissolve into the mix.
Note: This much will be enough for up to two large pork chops to adjust the amount of each ingredient to make sure that you have just enough for the pork chops you have.
Step 2: Marinate The Pork Chops
Place the pork chops in a large zip lock bag and then pour the marinade into the bag.
To not spill it, you can put the marinade first before the pork chops as it can be easier to do that.
Try to remove as much air from the zip lock bag as possible and then place the bag in the refrigerator.
This can take up to 8 hours to allow the meat to absorb all the flavors.
What Is The Best Way To Tenderize Pork Chops?
There are many and simple ways to tenderize pork chops.
Some would suggest physically tenderizing the pork chops using a meat mallet but I think it can be too brutal for pork chops.
Marinating pork chops is my personal favorite as it is the best way to tenderize pork chops.
It is mild and it can do its job plus more like adding flavors and spices to the delicious cut of meat.
You can also use salt whether you marinate the meat or not.
Salt helps draw moisture from the meat so it does not evaporate when cooked but is made juicier by its fats.
Why Do You Soak Pork Chops In Milk?
Although it is not the most popular way to tenderize meat, soaking pork chops in milk helps tenderize it.
People use this technique to make the meat more tender when cooked.
The enzymes inside the milk help break down the proteins in the meat.
They can also break down the hard fibers from the meat to make the cut of meat even more tender.
You can even use milk with chicken and beef as it can break them down as well.
I have often used Yogurt to get tender and juicy meat, so you can try that as well.
You can allow the pork chops to soak in the milk for 2 hours or even overnight in the fridge.
How Do You Tenderize Pork Chops With Meat Tenderizer?
Meat tenderizer is also a common way to tenderize meat.
These commercially made rubs help the fibers in the meat broke down easily, making the meat tender.
No matter what brand of meat tenderizer you use, make sure to put it on the pork chops sparingly.
Do not overdo this as it might mess up the meat’s consistency with a chewy texture.
For each pound of meat, you will need somewhere around a teaspoon of tenderizer.
Most of them are salted so make sure not to put extra salt on the meat and grill it after applying the tenderizer.
How Long Can You Marinate Pork Chops In The Refrigerator?
Some suggest that you can let the meat marinade for up to five days but that is not true.
You should not go over a day of marinating pork chops or else it will become soggy.
The outer parts of the pork chops would become white from the marinade and easily break down, leaving you with fibers instead of a whole cut of meat cooked properly.
When marinating, make sure to let it stay in the refrigerator just long enough to get the flavors absorbed and to tenderize it a little bit.
This means overnight or at most 12 hours in the marinade.
Why Are My Pork Chops So Tough?
Aside from the fat cap and the thick fat on top of the pork chop, it is a relatively lean cut.
That is why they are prone to overcooking and drying out when you grill them at high temperatures.
Your pork chops might be too tough because you cooked them at high temperatures and you cooked them for too long.
Make sure to time the cooking process properly.
When preparing the pork chops, make sure to also leave some fats on the pork chops as the fats will help create juices inside the meat that helps tenderize the pork chops more.
How Do You Keep Pork Chops From Drying Out?
One easy way to make sure that the pork chops you cook do not dry out is to buy bone-in pork chops.
However, if you have bought pure meat and fat pork chops, then there are other ways.
Add marinade to the pork chops but again, make sure that you do it properly and do not over-marinate the pork chops.
You can also cook the pork chops at low temperatures.
Leaving some of the fats on the pork chops will also help in making the pork chops juicier.
If you use an oven to cook the pork chops, you can put chicken broth on another pan for more moisture.
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