One Brine Day

We have too much beer in our apartment.

Ok, maybe there is no such thing as TOO much beer. But we have a LOT. For one thing, Adam and his friend brewed a batch of delicious honey lager/hefeweizen hybrid so we have many bottles of that. Then my brother decided he was never going to drink all of HIS beer so he gave it all to Adam. And on top of that on any normal day we have a decent amount of beer in the apartment. So yeah. Tons O' Beer.

In an effort to put some of it to use other than drinking it, I have been searching for beer related recipes online. I ended up slightly modifying one a recipe I found on Epicurious for beer-brined pork. The brine was super easy to put together and really made the pork delicious and juicy, perfect for me who tends to overcook those suckers.

This recipe is best started in the early afternoon since the chops do need to brine for 4 hours.I served it along side a warm potato and green bean salad mixed with dijon vinaigrette. Delicious!

Beer-Brined Pork Chops.

2 cups water
2 cups dark lager beer
1/4 cup coarse salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons molasses
1 cup ice cubes
6 1- to 1 1/4-inch-thick center-cut bone-in pork chops

Garlic Powder
Salt
Pepper

Mix 2 cups water, beer, 1/4 cup coarse salt, sugar, and molasses in large bowl. Stir until salt and sugar dissolve. Stir in ice. Place pork chops in large resealable plastic bag. Pour beer brine over pork chops; seal bag. Refrigerate 4 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Preheat oven to 350.

Heat an oven safe pan over medium high heat. . Drain pork chops from brine and sprinkle with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Sear chops in hot pan about 1 minute a side and then transfer to oven to finish baking, about 10 minutes or until an instant read thermometer reads 140. Transfer chops to platter; cover with foil, and let stand 5 minutes. Serve.