Grilling question

[lasersailor184]

Hi guys!

I've been using a charcoal grill lately to cook some dinners of mine.  I can do steaks and lamb chops pretty well, however there is a problem.

I'm having trouble doing Pork Chops.  I'm not doing anything fancy, just kosher salt and peppercorns to prep the meat.

The problem is that the meat is cooking, but it's not blackening.  Unlike the other meats, I can't get the flames to really come up to hit the meat.

I use a charcoal chimney to get the fire started.


Am I doing something wrong?  Or is there some piece of information I just happened not to pay attention for?

Thanks!

[TinmanX]

Try using fattier meat or brush the meat with some melted butter every few minutes.

[GtoRA2]

How long you waiting before you put the meat on? The Charcoal should be almost all gray and very hot.


What kind of Grill? Does it have ajustable height racks in it?

[WhiteHawk]

Dont grill pork chops, do pork steaks.  Build your charcoal to a pyramid in the middle and let the fire get going real good.  I dont mean the olympic torch, you should see lotsa grey with your coals and just a bit of fire starting to come back after the initial starter fire has gone out.  Then put the meat around the sides of the fire, not directly over it.  Put the damm lid on it boy, or they will burn.  Flip rapidly until the fire cools down, maybe about every minute or so for about 5 minutes.  KEEP THE FIRE OUT.  You want lotsa smoke, and no fire.  Fire sucks the flavor out, if it dont burn to bacon.  Keep a good eye on it till you get the feel of how it is going.  A good 5 pork steak-a-q should take about 2-3 hours.  No marinee for this is needed.  Keep flippin and drinkin the beers until you see the steaks starting to turn a copper glaze color, they should not look dry but glazed.  
I try to keep the juices from one steak and drip on another as i flip them.This kinda protects the flavor as well as adds to it.  If you see one starting to dry out, put a little bit of italian dressing on the wound, DONT POUR BEER ON IT, ashes will shoot all over the place and stick your meat.  Now, make sure your fire is goin but low heat, that means close the dampers on your kettle and make sure the lids tight.  The dripping saturated smoke will permeate the meat making your neighbors wife drool uncontrollably.  This should be dealt with a simple wink and a playful, 'you cant have any' attitude.  Now, hurry inside and take a bottle of KC masterpiece bbq and mix about 4 shots of a1 sauce in it and baste and turn, letting each baste turn into a pasty consistancy (about 5-7 minutes).  Keep at it until your meat is well covered and you start to drip your own spittle all over the place.  Go pee, get a cold beer for the dinner and pull em off.  All except 1.  Take that one and put far off to the side so it dont burn, give a thick coat of baste and forget about until you get hungray again 4 hours later.  That is one good hunk a pig:D .

Dont try this with one of them 19.99 wal-mart no-lid spin-the-grill hatchet jobs.  A good weber kettle is well worth the money.  GOod luck.

[AWMac]

I'd place the Hibachi in a small sailboat and get as far off shore as you can... Bring alotta gas with you, Charcoal Fluid won't work as well.

Once way off shore place 7 brickets into the Hibachi and fill the rest with gas.  About 1/4 inch from the top....just let it soak a bit.

Prep the meat.

Now lite a match.

Let me know how it turns out.

Mac

[lasersailor184]

I use this grill: http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2007/charcoal/OneTouchSilver22.aspx

I use a chimney starter to light the coals on fire.  When the top coals are red / burning, I dump them into a pile in the middle of the grill.  I soon put the meat on, while the coals are mostly red with some flaming up.



Am I going too soon?

[GtoRA2]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
I use this grill: http://www.weber.com/bbq/pub/grill/2007/charcoal/OneTouchSilver22.aspx

I use a chimney starter to light the coals on fire.  When the top coals are red / burning, I dump them into a pile in the middle of the grill.  I soon put the meat on, while the coals are mostly red with some flaming up.



Am I going too soon?

Sounds like a bit too soon, and maybe not enough charcoal?

That would depend on the size of the chimney starter though, Try starting a bit earlier and poor the lit charcoal on a flat bigger layer of unlit ones in the grill.

Wait tell its almost to hot to put you hand over.


I can't tell from the PDF on the grill if the grill can be lowered, if it can drop it down a notch too.

Try brining the pork as well.

[APDrone]

Originally posted by lasersailor184


...

I'm having trouble doing Pork Chops.  I'm not doing anything fancy, just kosher salt and peppercorns to prep the meat.

The problem is that the meat is cooking, but it's not blackening.  Unlike the other meats, I can't get the flames to really come up to hit the meat....

 

Dress it up like Freddie Mercury.  You should have flames all over it in no time.

[cav58d]

Why would you wanna burn x-chops?

[Ripsnort]

I sear pork chops, then slow cook them. Pork should be slow cooked. Think of it like cooking chicken. You don't want it to dry out either, thus searing will help keep the juices in.

[Mark Luper]

Personally Pork Chops don't taste right unless they are fried in a batter with flour over them similar to southern fried chicken. They are crisp on the outside and moist on the inside.

Some foods, though good on a grill, loose something when cooked that way. Perhaps it is just what I'm used to.

Grilling is better for you though, less fat  unless you coat it thick with the stuff.

I don't eat fried foods more often than once a week and it's generaly southern fried chicken.  I just love the stuff. I always fix dark meat  except for some buffalo wings, since I'm the only one eating it and it has a lot more flavor. Great with jalapeņos. One bite jalapeņo, one bite chicken. If you have some good jalapeņos, they are good for clearing your sinuses too.  

Mark

[Max]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
The problem is that the meat is cooking, but it's not blackening.  Unlike the other meats, I can't get the flames to really come up to hit the meat.
Thanks!

Unless you can get your hands on some locally bred and butchered pork chops, you're stuck buying the crap sold in supermarkets, which is bred for minimal fat content (flavor). Chances are, the processing plant tumbled the pork loin in a saline solution which makes the meat a bit more tender...to compensate for the lack of fat & marbling; and a 5% - 10% water based increase in overall weight adds up to a tidy profit for the pork processors. The additional liquid absorbed by the meat is what's preventing you from getting the same kind of charred surface you'd get from a beef steak.

Solution:
1. Buy a bag of natural charcoal. It's sold as "Cowboy", "Lumpwood" or "Natural" Charcoal. This stuff ignites in a chimney in half the time briquettes require. It also burns about 25% hotter than briquettes.
2. Don't marinate the pork chops; you're simply adding more liquid. Season them with a light application of dry rub an hour or so before you're ready to grill.
3. If the pork chops are less than an inch thick, pile up the cowboy charcoal to one side of your Weber. Keep the wood about 4" below the grill grate. Place the chops directly over the coals and go to it. About 3-4 minutes should do it, per side.
4. If the chops are more than an inch thick, follow Step 3 but park the chops to the opposite side of the Weber ( away from the heat) with the dome on
( air vents turned down to about 1/3) and give them a few more minutes of cook time.

Good luck...PM me for more info

[rpm]

Your problem is heat and distance. Lamb and pork cuts need searing to brown. If you try and brown them like you do beef, they will be dry as shoe leather. Cook slow, then sear them at the end.

Just got back from my sister's house. They took a heifer to the locker plant and just got it back. Brother-in-law told me to do the honors because he had messed up every one he had tried. T-Bones were cut 2 inches thick just like my Dad used to get them and tender as could be. Because they were so thick I cooked them about 12 minutes a side over low/medium heat. They turned out a perfect medium well.

Best steak I've had in quite some time.

[lasersailor184]

Thanks guys.  I'll try out some of this stuff the first chance I get.

[Sixpence]

Originally posted by Mark Luper
Personally Pork Chops don't taste right unless they are fried in a batter with flour over them similar to southern fried chicken.

Yeah, wifey does em that way and they come out pretty good, kinda like a chicken fried steak