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Grilled Pork Chops with Balsamic Caramelized Pears

SUBMITTED BY: OSORKIN PHOTO BY: SunnyByrd

"The recipe transforms thin supermarket pork chops into an unforgettable-juicy-tender-flavor-packed-lip-smacking pork experience. A combination of brining, marinating, and saucing. All can be prepared ahead except for the last 5 minutes of grilling."

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Read Reviews (27)

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PREP TIME	2 Hrs
COOK TIME	6 Min
READY IN	2 Hrs 6 Min

SERVINGS

(Help)

Servings
USMETRIC

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

1 1/2 quarts water
5 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
6 pork loin chops, 1/2 inch thick
1/2 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, minced
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 Vidalia onions, each cut into 8 wedges
2 pears, cored and each cut into 8 wedges
1 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, stir together the water, kosher salt, and sugar. Add pork chops to this brine, and let them soak for no more than one hour. Drain and discard the brine. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels.
In a shallow dish, stir together the olive oil, garlic, and rosemary. Place pork chops in the dish, and turn to coat. Cover, and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 or 2 hours.
Pour the balsamic vinegar into a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, and cook until reduced by 1/2, about 10 minutes. When the vinegar cools, it should be the consistency of syrup.
Melt butter with olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high or high heat. Add the onions and pears, and quickly brown being careful to keep the wedges intact. Once the onions and pears are browned, reduce heat to low, and cook for about 7 minutes, or until tender. Stir in the reduced vinegar and salt. The recipe can be prepared up to this point several hours before grilling.
Preheat the grill for medium-high heat.
Warm pears on a cool section of the grill (in the skillet), while placing the pork chops over the hot part. Cook pork for about 3 minutes per side, or to desired doneness. Remove to a serving plate, cover with aluminum foil and let rest for a few minutes. Uncover, top with the pear onion sauce, and serve.

FOOTNOTE

The nutrition data for this recipe includes information for the full amount of the brine ingredients. The actual amount of the brine consumed will vary.

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REVIEWS

Reviewed on Nov. 1, 2006 by cheepchick

This recipe is all about the sauce. It's that good. I made a double batch. I used half for the... MORE

Reviewed on Nov. 6, 2006 by LADYJAYPEE

Full Review

The reviewer gave this recipe 5 stars. This recipe averages a 0 star rating.

LADYJAYPEE
Nov. 6, 2006

Five-star all the way, company-worthy, great dish! I used 4 pork loin chops (about 3/4" thick, so they definitely took longer than 3 minutes per side to grill), but I used the full amount of balsamic-onion-pear sauce. I browned the onions on their own (not sure why recipe states to be sure to leave onions in wedges; couldn't possibly happen at my house without skewering them, and um-m...why?!); then at the end of the browning, I added the pear wedges so they wouldn't get too mushy. This worked great (thanks to reviewer, imvintage!). The balsamic reduction did harden when it cooled, but a bit of heat brought it back to the syrup stage. I started the chops out on the grill, but I'm a little bit of a grill-wuss and had never grilled pork chops before, so when it seemed like there might be the potential for them getting too tough, I brought them inside and finished them off in a pan. They came out great; done, not tough, and still had that great grilled flavor as well as retaining the subtle rosemary flavor. Yum! I reheated the onion-pear sauce on the stovetop, rather than the grill. Thank you so much, Osorkin, for a great recipe!

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5 users found this review helpful

Five-star all the way, company-worthy, great dish! I used 4 pork loin chops (about 3/4"... MORE

Reviewed on Aug. 24, 2006 by IMVINTAGE

We loved this! The flavor of the balsamic meshes so well the pork chops. Although I think the... MORE

Reviewed on Aug. 6, 2006 by Laura Lee

Wonderful! The pear/onion/balsamic mixture was to die for, and the chops were very juicy. The... MORE

Reviewed on Oct. 3, 2004 by JDVMD

I was so disappointed with this recipe. It sounded good and smelled good but I only could eat... MORE

Reviewed on Mar. 7, 2008 by SunnyByrd

The flavor of the pork is VERY good in this - I was a little skeptical of the "brining"... MORE

Reviewed on Jan. 7, 2008 by Steph G

Excellant and easy....I substituted apples for pears....I wasn't sure how to cut them so I did... MORE

Reviewed on Sep. 21, 2007 by stlchic57

This recipe is fabulous! I made it for my fiance for our aniiversary dinner, and he said it... MORE

Reviewed on Jan. 10, 2006 by Jennifer : )

We had a dinner party last Saturday night and I tried this out on my guests. (I know, I'm.

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