Coffee, rum and maple glazed pork chops

A good pork chop is a wonderful thing, but not easy to get right; you need the right sort of heat to ensure a good sear and crispy crackling. I love to cook pork chops over wood embers and have a searing hot side with a few flames, which I add new wood to, and a bed of embers on the other side. Here I used an Argentine-style fire pit grill from Fuegos.

You’re looking to use a good high heat output wood such as the ash I used here; also good are silver birch and beech. Build your fire using the Jenga method of stacking 3-4-inch diameter splits and light using a natural firelighter; I place one in the top and one in the bottom of the stack. Allow to burn down adding new wood of the same size as needed.

Set up your firepit or grill for direct cooking about 6-8 inches above the embers. The heat at grill level should be hot enough that you can only hold your hand (carefully) at the grill level for 2-3 seconds.

Ingredients

• 2” thick pork chop – one per person
• Coarse sea salt
• Coarse ground black pepper
• 1 shot espresso
• 1 measure rum
• 2 tbsp maple syrup

Method

1. Cut the rind every couple of inches to stop the chops curling up as the crackling forms, and season with plenty of coarse sea salt and coarse black pepper. Place the chops on the grill, hold a chop skin side down over the hottest part of the grill with some tongs until you get crispy crackling bubbling up. Do this for all your chops, then lay chops flat and sear both sides, moving from hotter to cooler parts of the grill to not burn them.
2. Make up a glaze with the espresso, a measure of good rum, and the maple syrup, mix together and glaze the chops using a pastry brush once they are seared. Build up a nice glaze by brushing the glaze on a few times. You’re aiming to take the chops off when they reach 63°C internal temperature to ensure they remain juicy; this will probably be around 15 minutes total cooking time.
3. Allow to rest for a few minutes and enjoy.

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