I love cooking on the grill and pork is one of my favorite meats to slap on the grill. A standard pork chop tends to dry out a little so the cure for that is to get a little thicker cut and find a rub that will create a crust rather quickly and seal in the moisture. Here’s my favorite:
Grilled Apple Cranberry Stuffed Pork Chops
Ingredients
- 2 thick cut pork chops, 1 1/2″ thick, wild or domestic
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 1 whole apple
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce
- a few wooden toothpicks
Preperation
Place pork chops on a cutting board and cut a pocket into the end of the chop, on the meaty side away from the bone. This pocket will be used for the apple/cranberry mixture later on.
In a small mixing bowl, mix together by hand brown sugar and chili powder. Place pork chops in a glass cake dish large enough to lay both pork chops flat. Rub the brown sugar mixture onto pork chop by hand. Make sure there is a good coating of rub all over the chop including inside the pocket. Place foil over this dish and place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
Slice apple thinly (1/4″ thick) and remove any core material. Place apple slices in mixing bowl, add ground cinnamon and cranberry sauce, and gently mix by hand until apple slices are covered taking care not to break the apple slices. Place foil over dish and place in refrigerator.
After an hour, stuff pork chops with the apple slices as full as you can get them and use wooden toothpicks to hold together while grilling.
Preheat grill to a temperature of approx. 350 degrees. Place chops directly on the grate and cook slowly taking care to prevent flame up as too much will cause charring. After a few minutes of grilling on each side, turn chop 90 degrees to give your meat the “cross checking” which actually gives it a good crust. Chops should only be flipped once on the grill and take care to cook thoroughly to a core temperature of at least 170 degrees. Undercooked meat can cause food born illnesses.
Serve with a rice or potato dish and your favorite vegetable.
Enjoy!
Rooney