Smoked Pork Chops Stuffed with Gouda and Bacon
Big fat, butterflied pork chops stuffed with shredded gouda cheese and crispy pieces of bacon smoked until perfectly done and the delicious melted cheese is oozing out from the edges. That’s what I call pure goodness!
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 4-6 butterflied pork chops thick chops are best
- 3 TBS Spicy brown mustard
- ½ cup Jeff's original rub
- ¾ cup Gouda cheese shredded (about 2 TBS per pork chop
- 1 lb Bacon cooked and crumbled (2 slices per pork chop
- Butcher’s twine
Instructions
- Cook bacon until it is crispy. You will need 2 slices per pork chop.
- Make extra so you’ll have some to nibble on.
- Let it cool then crumble into small to medium sized pieces.
- Buy already shredded cheese or you can buy a block of cheese and shred it yourself.
- I shredded about a cup of cheese so I had leftovers. You’ll only need about 2 TBS per pork chop.
- Mix 2 TBS of shredded cheese and 2 slices of crumbled bacon for each pork chop you plan to smoke.
- I purchased pork chops that were already butterflied and ready to go.
- First, we’ll season the inside just a little with my original rub.
- Add a little spicy brown mustard to help the rub to stick
- Sprinkle my rub on the top
- Place some of the cheese/bacon mixture to the top of the pork chop (one of the sides only)
- Fold the butterflied pork chop over on top of itself
- Apply some spicy brown mustard to the outside of the stuffed pork chops
- Rub the mustard all over the top and bottom of the pork chop then sprinkle Jeff's original rub on both sides generously.
- Cut (3) 24 inch pieces of butchers twine for each pork chop to tie it up.
- Lay the pieces of twine parallel and at about 2 inch intervals.
- Lay the pork chop on top of the twine.
- Loop each piece of twine over the stuffed pork chop, pull it tight and tie a knot that will hold.
- Trim the extra string with scissors or a sharp knife.
- Place the tied up, stuffed pork chops on a bradley rack or cookie sheet and they are ready for the smoker.
- Set up your smoker for cooking indirectly at about 225°F (107°C) using cherry or your favorite smoking wood.
- Once the smoker is ready, place the stuffed pork chops directly on the grate or if you use racks, you can just place the rack onto the smoker grate.
- Place a digital probe meat thermometer into one of the pork chops so you’ll know when it is perfectly done.
- You can expect the pork chops to take from 1.5 to 2 hours depending on actual thickness, how often you open the lid, weather conditions, and how cold the meat was when it went into the smoker.
- If you are using a smoker that is not fueled by wood, you should apply smoke for at least an hour. I usually keep a light smoke going for the entire time to replicate the real wood smoker experience.
- Ultimately, the pork chops are done and ready to eat when they reach 145°F (63°C).
- Serve the pork chops as they come off the smoker if possible so your eaters will get to experience the dish at it’s very best and while the cheese is still very melty.
- Don’t forget to cut and remove the butchers twine.