I think pork chops get overlooked as a great option for your weekly or weekend dinners. In this recipe, we’re going to use Chef Khanh Nguyen pork chop technique to score and cook the pork on the BBQ. If you don’t have a BBQ, you can do this in a cast iron pan on the stove.

I score the skin and skewer it flat so it doesn’t curl up in the pan, then cook the whole chop slowly in a low oven first so the inside stays moist all the way through. Once it’s cooked, it goes onto a hot flat plate with something heavy pressing down (like a protein press) on the skin until it gets really crispy.

If you want to try a new way to cook your pork, give this a go.

The ketchup is made from candied pine cones, which are small pine cones preserved in syrup. They’re a specialty ingredient and add an earthy, slightly sweet flavour to the sauce that you can’t really replicate with anything else. It all gets cooked down with onion, apple, vinegar and brown sugar then blended smooth. If you can’t find candied pine cones, try pickled walnuts in syrup or you could use dried sour cherries. The grilled peach salad with stracciatella rounds the dish out with freshness and cuts through the richness of the pork.

You can take one or all elements of this recipe.

Ingredient Notes

Pork chops, skin on: Skin-on pork chops are essential for this technique. The skin and fat cap are scored and skewered flat so they can be pressed evenly against the hot plate and develop a proper crunch. Without the skin, the visual and textural contrast that makes this dish work is lost. Ask your butcher for chops with the tomahawk bone in for the full presentation, and specify that you want the skin left on. Most butchers will be happy to do this if you call ahead.

Candied mini pine cones in syrup: These are a specialty ingredient available from European delis, good farmers markets, and online. They have a resinous, slightly floral character and a gentle sweetness that gives the ketchup its distinctive quality. If you can’t find them, pickled walnuts in syrup are the best substitute as they have a similar complex, tannic quality that works well against the apple and tamarind. You could also use dried sour cherries.

Stracciatella: Stracciatella is the creamy inner filling of burrata: shredded mozzarella curd mixed with cream. It’s rich, loose, and milky, and it settles beautifully over warm grilled peaches. Look for it at good Italian delis or cheese shops. If you can’t find it, tear open a fresh burrata or pull buffalo mozzarella into pieces. Avoid regular cow’s milk mozzarella if possible as the flavour is too mild and the texture too firm for this salad.

Equipment

• Chopping board
• Chef’s knife
• Sharp paring knife
• 6 metal skewers (3 per chop)
• BBQ with lid, or oven
• Cast iron flat plate or heavy-based frying pan
• Protein press or second heavy pan (for pressing)
• Saucepan or saucier
• Blender or stick blender
• Tongs
• Wire rack with tray