For the Pork Chop we butcher ours into 12oz portions, season with salt and fresh cracked black pepper and extra virgin olive oil. In our kitchen we use the Sous Vide method which is placing the pork chop in a commercial grade vacuum bag and cooking at 145 degrees F for 18 hours. But the less techie approach would be to simply brine the pork chops for 3 hours. If you go the brine route you can use a simple brining recipe of salt, sugar and water with any creative recipe you can find. 

For the grits we love using War Eagle mill organic yellow grits because of their fresh taste. They do come very coarse, so we like to grind them down to a cornmeal type texture. Grinding them to this level gives us the creamy grits we love. We cook them in milk, cream and water. We add the liquid to a thicken bottom pot and bring it to a simmer. Once the liquid is to a simmer we whisk in the grits and continue to stir until they begin to set up. Once they’ve set up you can check on them every 5 minutes or so until they have thickened and are cooked through. Roughly 30-45 minutes. It’s important not to walk away for too long as they will stick and burn. We finish them with salt, a pinch of black pepper, butter and you can either use lemon juice or tobacco for a little acidity. 

Creamy Grits

½ lb. Yellow grits

3 Cups whole milk

1 C heavy whipping cream

3 T Unsalted butter

Salt and black pepper to taste

a few dashes of lemon juice or Tabasco

For the apples we work with A&A orchards and are currently using their Jonathon apples. But they have many great apples to choose from. Preferably its firm crisp variety. Peel and medium dice your apples and turnips. In a pan on medium heat, add equal parts butter and olive oil. Add the turnips first and sauté for a few minutes. Season with some salt. Next add the apples and continue to stir and sauté. Be careful to watch your heat. There is a sweet spot where they will caramelize nicely, but the butter won’t burn. Cutting these all as uniform as possible will allow you to get an even cooking time. Once you have achieved a nice caramelization, but they still have some texture pull them and transfer to a pan lined with paper towels to absorb the excess butter/oil. 

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Now to plate the dish.

‍Using our char grill, we place the par cooked or brined pork on the grill to get some really nice grill marks and to finish the cooking process. We take our pork chops to 155-160 internal temperature. While the pork chop is grilling, we re - taste the grits for seasoning, texture and to make sure they are piping hot. To reheat the apples and turnips we will heat up dollop of butter and gently sauté until hot. 

Place the grits on your plate of choice, pork chop on top of grits, place a dollop of the honey butter on, and whimsically let the turnips and apples fall over the pork chop. Enjoy!

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