Bourbon BBQ Pork Chop

Coffee rubbed pork chop with bourbon bbq sauce and grilled sweet potatoes.

A couple of weeks ago the snow on my deck finally melted and I was able to use my grill for the first time. I went down to Atwater Market and asked the butcher to make up a double cut pork chop for me. Sweet potatoes are one of my favorite sides with pork. In this case I simply tossed a few slices on the grill next to the chop.

Cover the chop in rub and let sit. Grill covered over direct heat ~7 minutes on first side, then flip and grill ~6 minutes before adding the first layer of sauce. Coat the chop in a modest layer of sauce, cover the grill for 1 minute or so, flip and repeat several times until the chop is cooked and you have covered it with several layers of sauce. The general point here, is that the sugar in the sauce should caramelize on the chop to form a kind of glaze. If you put the sauce on at the start when the fire is hot it will just burn and if you don't give it time to caramelize at the end it will be "goopy".

Both the rub and sauce are Steven Raichlen's. His "How to Grill" is a very usefull resource for the basics of BBQ sauce and rub. It also contains a lot of information and instruction on fire-prep for charcoal grills and smokers which can be hard to find.

Rub (from "How to Grill"):
6T ground coffee
2T course salt
2T brown sugar
2T sweet paprika
2t ground black pepper
2t garlic powder
2t onion powder
1t ground cumin
1t ground coriander
1t unsweetened cocoa powder
-Mix ingredients in a bowl with your fingers.

Sauce (Bon Appetit via Epicirious):
2 cups ketchup*
1/2 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
1/3 cup bourbon (I used Jack)
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons hot pepper sauce
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
-Combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer over med-low for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. Let cool. Save the extra for later in the season.
*The fancy market I was in only had Stonewall Kitchens' Country Ketchup. One jar was just shy of a 2 cups and it worked really well.