Sweet & Spicy Pork Chop with Pineapple – AKA: Hot, Sticky, Syrupy Sweetness

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Pork products and pineapple have been a favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. In my younger days, a 6 hour long gaming session fueled by a Hawaiian pizza (or two), dunked in a mixture of ranch dressing and Valentina Xtra Hot hot sauce was my idea of heaven. Well, it kinda still is, but I’m older now and I can’t do either of those things to as much of an excess, but I can dream…

Back in the real world, I’ve got right in front of you, the next best thing. There’s no ranch in this one, but that wouldn’t go very well here anyway. I think it’s a pretty safe bet that everyone is a fan of the sweet and savory. Add some spice, and you’re a true friend of mine. This is a rather simple recipe that, in my opinion, can please all kinds of crowds. Unless you don’t eat pork. I think I have some Impossible burger patties somewhere.

Invite some folks over and get your pork and pineapple fix with this one. Marathon gaming session is optional.

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Serving Size: 2…or 2 Mes as well (But yeah, I could eat that second one)

• 2 Bone-In Pork Chops (Somewhere between 3/4″ to 1″ thick, each.)
• 1 Whole Pineapple
• Kosher Salt
• Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• Sugar

Glaze:

• 3/4 cup Peach Preserves
• 1/4 cup Honey
• 2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp. Rice Vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. medium Hot Sauce (I used Hot One’s – Los Calientes Verde)
• 1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
• 1 tsp. Paprika
• 1/4 tsp. Cayenne Powder (I know, that’s not a lot, but stay with me…)

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1.) A very important thing to remember about choosing your cut of meat is that you should pretty much judge a book by its cover.

I mean, come on. I’d pick up that book any day. Try to get a chop that’s got a little fat and a little rib meat, if possible. That’s the flavor talking.

Pork chops are known to get a bit on the dry side, so that’s why we’re going to brine ours to help mitigate this. Get a medium sized bowl and fill with 2 quarts (that’s roughly 2 liters for you non-‘Muricans) of ice-cold water and mix with 1/4 cup of kosher salt and 1/8 cup of sugar to get that chop on its way. Place the chops in there once the salt and sugar are dissolved, cover the top and stick in the fridge for an hour.

2.) Now that we’ve got some time to play with, let’s make our glaze. Get a small/medium sauce pan and put all the ingredients from the list above, inside. The hot sauce I used, Los Calientes Verde, is medium heat, with tropical fruit-forward flavor. Any similar hot sauce will do (No paid endorsements here…yet). That little bit of cayenne? I haven’t gone soft, that’s just to give the whole thing that extra bit of kick, just to know you’re alive. I’m not trying to burn the house down.

Turn your heat on to medium to slowly bring everything up to temp, mixing regularly until it looks like its boiling. Reduce the heat to low or whatever temp you need to give it a little simmer, and stir a bit every minute or so for the next 10 minutes to reduce a little. Now, you’ve got your glaze. Well, that was pretty freaking simple in my book (how many books are there in this recipe?).

3.) We can let the brining pork and the glaze sit for a while, which generally only makes things tastier. In the meantime, you can go sit on your couch and admire your indoor plant collection that is slowly taking over every square inch of your apartment. Whether you’re done admiring, or it’s been an hour for the pork, preferably the latter, let us continue.

Take your pineapple, cut off both ends and then the skin on the sides and then slice into about quarter inch slices. Core out the middle, and now you’ve got some sweet looking pineapple slices.

Preheat you cast iron or stainless 12 inch pan to medium high (7 on my stovetop). Once the pan is hot, add neutral oil (I use avocado), let that warm up, don’t let it burn, and place those slices down. Cook for up to one minute each side, which should be enough to give them a nice char. Create a bed of slices on a plate and we’ll leave these be for later.

4.) Remove your chops from the water and pat them dry. Make sure they are completely dry and coat with just fresh ground black pepper. They are already salted from the brine and adding more salt may make them too salty. You can always apply more salt later, but you can’t really take it away once it’s there.

5.) Fire up the same pan you used for the pineapple, leaving all the sweet juice in there, follow the same heating protocol as before, and place you chops right on down.

How long to cook depends on how thick your chops are. If your chops are on the thinner side, begin with 3 minutes on each side and check the temperature with an instant read digital thermometer. You want to get it to about 150 F. Cooking them through would be 165, and not very recommended. I like my chops at about medium. My chops were at just about an inch thick, so I did 4 minutes per side. Your cooking times may vary. Slop some glaze on each side one minute before finishing and then remove from heat.

When plating, nicely nestle you chop onto the slices and then drizzle more glaze on top of the whole thing. It works better if the glaze is warmed up so it is not as viscous and can be poured more smoothly. Now, this pork chop has got some serious sugar attached, so you’ll know the reason why your A1C is slightly elevated. Enjoy!