RECIPE: Cold-Smoked Pork Chops with Blueberry-Tarragon Butter
CHEF: John Grainger, 1060 Restaurant
Blueberry-Tarragon Butter
Pork Chops
Cold-Smoked Pork Chops with1 each small metal pan with 2" raised sides that you don't care about anymore (because you will slightly damage it using this technique!)
1 small bag Hickory Wood Chips1 small bag Hickory Wood Chips
4 each 10-12 ounce Bone-In Pork Chops
3 ounces blended salad oil
To taste salt and pepper
Method:
First thing, take the top grate off of your grill and then turn it on high heat. Place half of the wood chips into your small metal pan and place the pan on top of the heat elements in your grill. Wait for 5-8 minutes until the chips start to smoke and catch fire. Move them around with a pair of tongs to ignite the rest of the chips. Once they are all going fairly good, put the grill grate back on the grill and place the 4 pork chops on to the grate. TURN THE HEAT TO OFF ON THE GRILL and shut the top as fast as you can. You are now trapping the smoke inside the grill and the flavor is getting onto the Pork Chops. Leave the grill alone making sure not to open the lid for any reason (if you do, you will need to do the entire process all over again). Let them sit in there for about 15 minutes. Next, take the pork chops off the grill and onto a plate. Oil them up and then season all of them with the salt and pepper to your liking. Take out the wood chip pan and turn the grill back onto high heat. Let the grill get good and hot for about ten minutes. Clean your grate off very well with a grill brush before cooking as well. At this point, you are ready to grill the pork chops to your desired doneness. Serve them topped with Blueberry-Tarragon Butter (recipe below) and a side of roasted potatoes with grilled zucchini. Enjoy!
Blueberry-Tarragon Butter
½ each chipotle pepper (with juice and seeds removed)
1 qt fresh blueberries
¼ cup apple juice
¼ cup cranberry juice
1 small fresh shallot (peeled and minced)
2 tsp honey
1 pound salted butter (at room temp)
2 tsps fresh tarragon (finely chopped)
1/4 cup fresh chives (minced)
In a heavy bottom sauce pan add first six ingredients and reduce by half remove from heat. Cool to at least room temp, but preferably to refrigerator temp.
While cooking the first step, place the room temp butter into a tabletop electric mixer and with the whip attachment installed, whip the butter until white and fluffy.
In a standard sized food processor, add the cooled blueberry mixture and puree until smooth. Now in a large mixing bowl, add the whipped butter, blueberry mixture, chopped tarragon and minced chives. With a large rubber spatula, fold the mixture together until very well incorporated.
Place the entire butter mixture into the center of a large piece of wax paper, saran wrap or parchment paper. Roll it onto a perfect "tubelike" shape and tighten the ends by spinning them opposite ways with your hands. Place the tube in the freezer and let chill for at least 2 hours before cutting any pieces off of it. This recipe will yield 20-30 portions (depending on preference of size).
