Tea Brined Pork Chops, part I

Why brine, you ask? It infuses the meat with flavor, and is something of a guarantee against tasteless shoe leather meat. Works great with turkey as well!

The leading actors: Salt (1/3 Cup), Sugar (1/2 Cup), Loose Decaf tea (scant 1/4 cup) - mix these into 4 cups boiling water.



The supporting actors: ginger, whole cloves, whole allspice, whole peppercorns, onion (fresh or dried). Add to the boiling mixture:

This smells wonderful. Too bad for you this isn't a scratch and sniff blog!
Add a cup or two of apple cider:

When the mixture is cool enough, put the pork chops in plastic bags:

Pour the brine over the pork chops, and refrigerate overnight: