Brine Time!

On our recent trip to Maine, the four of us dined at a wonderful small restaurant, Town Hill Bistro, on Mt. Desert Island. We all had delicious dinners there that can be viewed on an earlier post. The porterhouse pork chop that I had that night was absolutely scrumptious and when I inquired about its preparation the waiter said that the meat had been brined first. I had read about brining and it always sounded mildly complicated as well as that needing to do it hours ahead factor, too, so I’d never attempted the procedure. I decided that night that I’d give it a go when we returned home. Lo and behold, upon our return I have a gift box waiting for me from our Maine traveling companions and among other goodies in the box is…………of course, a wonderful jar of brining mix! Let the brining begin!

Here’s my mix: Victoria Gourmet Blends made in Maine

The procedure involves adding your brining mix to boiling hot water and then plunging in a lot of ice cubes to cool it right down—see pix below

Then you submerge the meat (in this case two porterhouse pork chops) in the chilled water and cover, place in fridge for 4 to 10 hours. I did five hours.

Remove the meat and pat dry and grill or pan sauté.

I made a paste of minced fresh rosemary, lemon zest, and olive oil that I spread on the chops before sautéing in a cast iron skillet and then baking briefly in the oven.

Roasted sweet potatoes and onions, green beans and fresh corn cut from the cob rounded this dinner out.

Yummy and many thanks to our most fave traveling pals for the brining mix!