Smoked Pork Chops with Apple Sauce and Apple & Beets Slaw
Reverse seared pork chops served with crisp apple and beets slaw and homemade apple sauce (aka the Awesome Sauce).
Ingredients
- 1 and ½ inches thick pork chops
Apple and Beet Slaw
- 1 large or beets, coarsely peeled and grated
- 2 green apples, cored, then cut into matchsticks then cut in half (you can peel if you prefer)
- ½ head red cabbage
- 3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Kosher salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black peppercorns
- 1 lemon (for zest and juice for serving)
Apple Sauce
- 4 cups peeled, sliced apples – Granny Smith
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- zest off one lemon and juice of half a lemon
Instructions
For the Pork Chops
- Trim off any excess fat of the pork chops and then dry brine them by lightly salting with kosher salt for at least an hour (8 hours - 2 days is best)
- Set up a two zone cooking area in your BBQ by lighting ½ a chimney starter of charcoal briquettes and when they are fully lit, dump them on one side of the charcoal grate. Place the lid back on, making sure the vent is directly over the cool zone where there is no charcoal and all vents will be wide open.
- Aim for a temp of 160°F to 180°F in the cool zone.
- After 5 minutes, the grill should be warm enough to clean with a grill brush and give a light oiling to stop the chops sticking.
- Place the chops on the cooler cooking zone, place the lid and make sure the lid vent is directly above the meat, this will draw the heat over the chops.
- Once the chops reach an internal temp of 110°F, light up another ½ charcoal chimney of briquettes, ready for the searing part of the cook on the hot zone.
- When the chops have reached 120°F, we can remove them and loosely cover with some aluminium foil and butter.
- Dump in the other ½ chimney of briquettes and wait until the grill temp reaches above 600°F, this should take another 5 minutes after the new charcoal was put in. Or you can use a laser thermometer to check.
- Set up a timer, grill chops for 1 and ½ minutes then turn them nearly 45 degrees to create a diamond sear pattern.
- We are aiming for a finished internal temp of 145°F, if after the searing is done and the chops are under 145°F, just put them back in the cooler cooking zone until they come up to temp.
For the Apple and Beets Slaw
- Start by peeling and coarsely grating the beets and placing them into a large bowl.
- Core the apples and cut into matchsticks. You can peel them but I like the texture of the skin. Once in matchsticks, cut in half again and add to the bowl.
- Finely chop up the cabbage and add this to the ingredients in the bowl.
- With all of the other ingredients measured out, add these to the freshly chopped ingredients and stir up well.
- I suggest making it an hour in advance as it also allows the sugars to dissolve and the flavors to mix a little longer.
- Adding some lemon zest and lemon juice is a great way to freshen it up.
For the AppleSauce (or the Awesome sauce)
- Peel and trim the apples and then slice into 1/3 inch slices. Then lie them down into a baking tray.
- Drizzle with lemon juice.
- Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup and lemon zest.
- Cover with foil and bake for an hour.
- The apple pieces should be soft and ready to put into a food processor and blended until a smooth sauce consistency is achieved.
To Serve
- Start by placing the slaw side dish on the plate first; I’d put down a large helping. Then adding some lemon zest and squeeze of juice.
- Lean the perfectly grill marked chop over the slaw. These are large chops, so one should be more than enough for the average adult.
- Add a large dollop of the sauce to the side, make sure it’s a large amount, as you will be asked to serve more.