Smoked, glazed and grilled: Sweet and sour pork chops

If you haven’t mothballed your grill for the winter — and for me grilling season can readily stretch into November most years — you may want to try this variation for smoked pork chops before stowing it away.

Regular readers may remember I made smoked chops last spring for my brother Joe when he visited from Palo Alto, because they were always one of his favorites since childhood. That recipe called for layering chops with slices of apples and cooked yams, baking them together.

They came out delicious, the three ingredients complementing each other very well while the chops remained tender.

Joe visited again in September, and when I offered to cook whatever he‘d like, he immediately suggested smoked chops again. But I wanted to try something different (a trait that helps feed this weekly feature while expanding my kitchen skill set and palate: this is recipe number 236).

So, of course, I searched Google and this one had the most appeal. But while I stuck with the eight pork chops, I only glazed four, grilling the other four as is.

Brother Ray, who bought and still lives in the old West Hazleton homestead, came to our house with Joe, to join MT and me for the meal. All four of us tried the glazed chops first. They were a big hit, with Joe insisting they were “grilled to perfection.” Then he and Ray tried some of the unglazed ones, and both said that it was much harder to taste the “smoked” flavor through the glaze.

Which is a big reason I left four unglazed. Personally, I thought the smokey flavor came through fine, and was complemented by the additions. And certainly the glazed chops got a much more impressive-looking browning and better-defined grill marks — no doubt thanks to the addition of honey and brown sugar. But pay heed: If you insist the smoke dominate your chops, or if you have dining guests who do, consider skipping the glaze.

We served these with several future test kitchen recipes: MT made a very tasty vegetable soup, and some baked apples with a savory stuffing. I made duchess potatoes, skillet-roasted Brussels sprouts with maple syrup and smoked almonds, and a freshly-baked loaf of peanut butter bread from the B. Dylan Hollis book of odd, old recipes, “Baking Yesteryear.” But those are for another time.

Three notes: 1) While I only glazed four chops, I made the full amount of glaze, and I wonder if there was enough of the concoction to coat eight, or if the more concentrated glaze helped mask the smoke flavor. 2) The glaze was thick, so I mixed it in bowl and coated each side of the chops before putting them in the bag and adding the rest. 3) As a rule, smoked chops are already safe to eat, or nearly so. Cooking usually means heating them and adding some browning. But I always either check the internal temperature or cut one partly open to make sure.

Dobru chut!

Grilled smoked pork chops with sweet and sour glaze (foodnetwork.com)

¼ cup light brown sugar (dark is fine, I can say from experience)

¼ cup honey

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus extra for grill

1 lime, juiced

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

8 thinly cut (about ½-inch thick) smoked pork chops

In a plastic resealable bag big enough to fit the chops, mix together the sugar, honey, oil, lime juice, and red pepper flakes. Add the pork chops and let marinate for at least 20 minutes.

Heat grill on high, clean and oil, turn heat down to medium high.

Remove the pork from the marinade. Lightly brush the grill with oil. Put the chops on the grill and cook until grill marks form, about 2 minutes. Rotate the chops 90 degrees, and grill for 2 minutes more, to create diamond grill marks. Flip and cook another 2 minutes. Remove from grill to a serving platter and serve.