Smoked Chops with Sides by David Burns
Our friend David Burns, owner of Maisy’s Pearl, loves his smoked chops! He took some time off from oysters to put together one of his favourite recipes, and even included some side dishes to pair with your smoked chops. David has been a friend of ours for quite a while now and was even the winner of one of our J.Waldron Butcher hats a while back. Enjoy this recipe.
Tools Required:
Smoker
First off, this is one of my favourite dishes to make – ever! And J.Waldron Butchers has some of the best product for it as the pork chops are easily one of my favourites to cook!.
With this recipe, I like to smoke the chops as I like a little more depth in flavour and I think this chop enhances that for me. I use my Traeger smoker for this recipe. I set my Traeger at around 200° but you can go higher or lower depending on how much smoke you want and how much time you have.
I keep the chops in the fridge until I’m ready to use them as smoke is attracted to the cold meat. You can use any type of rub if you choose or just good salt and fresh pepper work for me too. Season well. If you are using a rub feel free to put this on in advance so you get the full flavour of the rub.
When your smoker is at the temp of your choosing place the meat in the middle of the rack and flip once during the smoking process. Once your meat has been smoking for a good 45-60 minutes, I take it off and blast my smoker to 450° or 500°. When it hits temperature I put the chops back on for about a minute and a half to two minutes per side depending on how thick your chops are. Mine are usually pretty thick so it’s closer to 2 minutes.
Take them off of the smoker and let them rest for about 10-15 minutes. I like to slice my chops and share them with friends and neighbours.
The Sides
My sides for this recipe vary depending on season. My favourite is broccolini, fingerling potatoes, Caesar salad or a red leaf salad with endives and white wine vinegar.
Broccolini
Fresh broccolini
1/2 a fresh lemon
Salt and pepper
Pecorino cheese
Cut the tips of the stems off of the broccoli and rinse until clean. Boil a pot of salted water and blanch for about 5 minutes. Take out the broccoli and put it in an ice bath to stop the cooking. Set aside until ready to use. When ready to use, heat the pan on low-medium and splash about a tablespoon (or a bit more) of good olive oil into the pan, place the broccolini in the pan, and sauté for a couple of minutes to heat up. Add the juice of half a fresh lemon and salt and pepper (you can use more to taste), grate in some sharp pecorino cheese, and heat until melted. Put it in a serving dish and finely grate as much pecorino as desired on top and serve with some lemon wedges.
Fingerling Potatoes
Fingerling potatoes
4-6 minced garlic cloves
2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and softly blanch the potatoes until just before fork tender. Drain and dry. In a Dutch oven add a couple of inches of high heat oil. Bring temperature to 350° and add potatoes, sort of deep frying for about 5-7 minutes. Be sure not to overcrowd the pot. Pull from oil and get rid of any access oil drippings.
In the meantime in a frying pan, add about two large knobs of butter, about 4-6 minced garlic cloves, and about two tablespoons of fresh rosemary. When the butter is melted and everything is fragrant, add potatoes and cook to coat for about another 4-6 minutes or until the desired crispiness has been reached.
Red Leaf Salad
Head of red leaf lettuce
2 Belgian endives
1/2 a radicchio
I use a full head of red leaf lettuce, two Belgian endives, and half a radicchio for this salad and it’s more of a palet cleanser but is so delicious!!! Cut up the lettuce, endives, and radicchio to the desired size and rinse well. Pat dry with a tea towel.
For the dressing:
1/3 cup of veg oil
1/3 cup of white wine vinegar
4 minced garlic cloves
1 tbl spoon of sugar or honey
pinch of good salt to taste and
same with pepper.
Put in a jar and shake. Use the desired amount and save the rest for a rainy day.
Enjoy and let us know how it turned out for you with a tag.
@j.waldron_butchers
Follow:
David Burns
Owner of Maisy’s Pearl
@maisyspearl
This is the second in what will eventually become a collection of recipes available using good meats and fresh cuts from J. Waldron Butchers located on Barton Street in Hamilton, Ontario. If you have a recipe that you would like to share, please reach out through the contact page, and let’s connect.