Cambodian Pork Chops

I don’t have enough superlatives to describe these beauties. Fragrant, succulent, easy to prepare, and pleasing to the palate of both pork lover and agnostic alike. I will definitely add these to my rotation.

Pork chops can be the death of many a dinner if they become dry and sawdust-like during cooking. These chops were juicy and flavorful. The peppercorns added a stealthy whammy of hot and the lemongrass balanced the flavor. My inner recipe wonk couldn’t find anything that needs to be changed with this recipe.

Simple enough for a weeknight supper and sassy enough for a summer dinner party, these chops will charm even the most reluctant pork lover. My husband is a pork chop lover and he really loved these. This recipes erased many of my bad chop nightmares from childhood.

I used boneless chops as it was all I had on hand. They weren’t rib chops, but they worked well with the recipe. I think you could use either bone in or a boneless one. I used Red Boat Vietnamese peppercorns. I usually slice and freeze lemongrass. I used 1 tablespoon of frozen lemon grass slices. Based on some quick research, this is about 2 stalks.

I marinated the pork for about 5 hours. My pit master adjusted the cook time to account for the boneless chop. He cooked them for 4 minutes on the first side and 2 on the second. The internal temperature of the chops when flipped registered between 135 and 140°F on the Thermapen.

I served the chops with steamed rice, Japanese cucumber salad, and the mushroom packets from a prior round of testing. The flavors were really well balanced.

These chops are a revelation. They are absolutely delicious.

I actually made 5 bone-in pork chops with this recipe, and I don’t feel the seasoning was scant at all. For the spice rub, I ground the toasted peppercorns and anise in my spice grinder and then added the pulverized garlic and lemongrass in, making a paste. The pork chops marinated for 2 hours.

The only change I’ll make when I grill them next time (and I will be making them again!) is to slice up boneless chops and thread them onto skewers in bite-size pieces. For some reason, the bone-in chops just didn’t seem to mesh with the idea of “street food,” maybe because my family is weird and used a fork and knife for such things. I, on the other hand, just grabbed the chop with my hands. Either way, it will be fantastic. I served the finished pork chops with spiced carrots and rice noodles and it was, to quote my kid, a “party in your mouth.”