madbaker | This week's Resolution recipe

Ginger-Cured Pork Chops. Those of you in the Carbo Cult, you can probably eat this.

Note: brine the pork chops for three days before cooking.

4 quarts cold water
1/2 cup salt
fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon peppercorns
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
8 fresh thyme sprics
3 bay leaves
zest of one orange

4 pork chops

Combine all the non-meat above in a glass or ceramic container. Mix. Add chops and refrigerate for 3 days. Drain and rinse meat, discarding brine; pat meat dry. Coat with a splash of olive oil and chopped fresh thyme. Let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Heat broiler or charcoal grill. Cook for 8-10 minutes on each side and serve warm.

Comments: we made a half recipe for the two of us. I couldn't summon the effort to light the smoker so we used the broiler, but the smoker would have given more flavor.
Tasty, although a bit on the salty side even with rinsing, and the ginger was mostly too subtle for my reduced sense of taste. (About 1.5 years of persistent sinus infections wrecked much of my ability to smell and thus taste. Which sucks for a foodie, but what can you do?) I'd make it again, though. Not too difficult as long as you read the note regarding the 3 days prep time. Ahem. Not that I missed that when I tried to make these Saturday. Nope, not me.