Let’s face it, a cookout on Labor Day, that bittersweet farewell to summer, tends to attract the hedonistic hordes. Your challenge as host is to come up with something that’s simple to prepare, but not boring. These pork chops do the job splendidly.
Once upon a time pork chops were pretty rich. These days they’re lean enough to be marketed as “the other white meat.” Health-wise, you can’t beat them. Flavor-wise and texture-wise? You’ll have to baby them a little so they don’t dry out. And I find the best bet to ensure that chops turn out moist and toothsome is to brine them before you cook them.
When meat is brined — that is, when it is marinated in a solution of salt and water — the salt not only deeply penetrates and seasons the meat, it also changes the structure of the meat’s proteins, enabling it to retain liquid during cooking.
Typically, a brine is comprised of salt and water. But here I’ve swapped out the water for beer and further flavored it with fresh rosemary and garlic. The barbecued onions consist of nothing more than onions and barbecue sauce. Just be sure to cook the onions until they’re very brown and soft before adding the barbecue sauce. And try to pick a sauce that’s not too sweet; the onions alone will be plenty sweet after they’ve browned.