Sorrel glazed smoked pork chops

My Dinner

My husband has been asking me for smoked pork chops for weeks. I’ve not exactly been ignoring him, but because I’m not really a pork person it’s not one of the things I remember to pick up in the grocery store. So today we went grocery shopping together and he made sure to pick up a pack of pork chops for me to cook for dinner today.

It’s been the trend for this whole month for me to just make a dinner with what I have on hand. This recipe is no different. I did not set out with the intention to make a sorrel glazed pork chop. I knew it would be a smoked pork chop I just didn’t know what sauce to use. So I opened the refrigerator and I tell you exactly one cup of sorrel was left. I was hoping we still had pineapple juice or apple juice in the pantry but we were out. So technically I had no choice but to use the sorrel.

It worked out to be all for the best because this sauce was very delicious. The sorrel also has ginger in it so that added even more flavor. I generally don’t like to buy the pre-smoked pork chops at the grocery store, because of my underlying control issues. So in order to infuse it with flavor I did a quick brine before adding the dry rub. Then a quick smoke followed by the oven to get tender. 

Yes, I know its a whole lot of steps. But nothing great ever comes easy. If you wanted to cook it 100 percent on the grill you could at a low temp, however I would place a pan underneath it to catch all the juices to re-use in the sauce. I usually put my faith in the oven because it is much easier to control the constant temperature rather than my little coal fired weber. The coals for me are very tricky sometimes too hot and other times not hot enough. So once I get a nice smoke on them I finish in the oven, thats my safe bet rule. 

This is a pretty easy dinner considering the steps, it may be more suitable for a weekend dinner than a weekday dinner unless you have the time. But all in all great meal. We had it with fried rice. 

Ingredients (printable recipe)

4-6 pork chops

2 cups soaked wood chips

For the brine (optional)

3 cups Water

¼ cup Salt

¼ cup Sugar

2 tablespoon Thyme

6 Sage leaves

1/4 cup Onion

1 tablespoon allspice

For the dry rub

1 tablespoon Smoked paprika

1 tablespoon Onion powder

½ teaspoon Ground sage (optional)

1 teaspoon Ground allspice / pimento

½ teaspoon Salt

½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper

For the sauce

1 cup sorrel

2 tablespoon honey

½ teaspoon salt

1 scotch bonnet pepper

½ teaspoon allspice

Instructions

• Make the brine by dissolving the salt and sugar in the water and adding all the other brine ingredients
• Add the pork chops to the brine and allow it to soak for at least 45 minutes up to 2 hours (you don't want to goo too long on thin cuts because they will be too salty)
• Wash and pat dry the pork chops and season with the dry rub
• Preheat the oven to 320
• Prepare the grill by adding the soaked wood chips to the hot coals and allow the pork chops to smoke for 30 minutes at a low temperature
• Once the chops are smoked add to a baking dish with a small ramekin of water inside (about ¼ cup), cover with foil and place in the oven cook until the pork chops are fork tender (for me this took another 30 minutes as my cuts were thin)
• Remove from the baking dish and set aside
• The pork should have left some brown bits and juice in the bottom of the baking dish
• Pour the water from the ramekin into the baking dish and deglaze the pan
• Add the deglazing liquid, sorrel, honey, salt, pepper and allspice to a sauce pan and reduce to a thick glaze
• Pour the glaze over the pork chops or add the chops to the glaze and sauce them.
• Serve with your choice of sides.

Xoxo Greedygirl