Date Stuffed Pork Chops - picture heavy

There was a virtual Iron Chef comp on another forum and this was my entry. It really turned out good!

The required ingredients included bone-in pork chops, beer, and dates. I designed my cook based away from one of my favorite appetizers – bacon wrapped, cheese stuffed dates! Here is the finished plate:



The cook started with some beautiful, 2” thick, bone-in chops. The marinade consisted of:

1 550 ml bottle of Samuel Smith’s, Nut Brown Ale
1 tomato, chopped
1 tbsp. cider vinegar
½ yellow onion, sliced thin
2 sprigs fresh thyme
½ piece of stick cinnamon
1 tsp. black peppercorns, cracked
¼ tsp ground dry ginger
1 tbsp. fresh ginger



I let them rest in the marinade for 6 hours and then pulled them, dried them off, reserving the marinade and cut deep pockets for stuffing.

The stuffing consisted of:

4 slices, thick cut, maple smoked bacon cooked on the grill and chopped
6 cipoline onions, tossed with EVOO, S&P, roasted on the grill and chopped
6 dates chopped
1 package goat cheese (small – about 4” long and 1 ½” in diameter)
¼ tsp. dry ginger
½ tsp cinnamon



Here is a picture as I am stuffing the chops and the finished chops, ready for the grill.





They were cooked, direct, at 400, on a raised grate, to 140 internal. I used one chunk of apple wood for smoke.



The sauce started with the by caramelizing carrots, onion, celery, and green pepper, and then deglazing with the reserved marinade (strained). I reduced the liquid by about half, strained it, added ½ cup chicken stock, and reduced again and then added ¼ pound butter to create the sauce. It was seasoned with ginger and cinnamon.



Ingredients were:

½ cup carrots
½ cup yellow onion
½ cup celery
½ cup green pepper
Liquid from pork chop marinade
½ cup chicken stock
¼ pound butter
½ tsp dry ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

Although unreleted to the competition, I needed some sides, so I groilled cipoline onions, carrots and Yukon gold potatoes. I took some of the potatoes (the ones in the plated pictures), cut down through the potato, rubbed them with EVOO and S&P and then stuffed the slots with Parmesan cheese.

This was a guest getting her first experience with a BGE. I think I sold another one!



Here is a last picture of another plate. I also through in some no-knead bread for good measure.