beer glazed pork chops

You're welcome for this recipe. While it's a bit of a travesty to pour a perfectly good beer into a pot for cooking on a hot summer day while the smoke & aroma of pork on the barbie fill the air, this glaze is completely worth it. Not that I wouldn't recommend poppin' a couple tops while dinner's on the grill. Or with dinner. Heck, have 'em after. And this works perfectly for grilled chicken, too.

One word of caution: I used an amber bock that we really like to drink, and the flavor of the beer came through perfectly. I'd skip lighter beers and use an amber or stout, and go for one that you actually enjoy drinking. As the saying goes, "If you wouldn't drink it, you shouldn't cook with it."

Oh, and one more word of caution: the glaze goes from almost perfectly-reduced to burned in about 2.7 seconds. So once it gets close, just park yourself next to the stove and pay attention. Trust me on this.

4 thick-cut pork loin chops (or 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
2 T butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 t salt
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 T Worcestershire sauce
12 oz. beer

*Do ahead: place pork chops in a freezer bag with 1 T salt and 1/4 cup olive oil. Allow to sit, chilled, for several hours before cooking.

To Grill:
1. Pre-heat grill to high heat (around 500 degrees).
2. While grill heats, melt butter and brown sugar over meduim-low heat.
3. Add salt, garlic, onion, and Worcestershire sauce; mix well.

4. Slowly add beer, stir to combine, and raise heat to medium-high. Stir occasionally while liquid reduces to form a thick, syrupy glaze.

5. While beer glaze boils, put pork chops on hot grill to sear for 2 minutes on each side.
6. Reduce heat on grill to medium-low (or move to indirect heat on a charcoal grill).
7. Grill pork chops for 4-6 minutes, depending on thickness (for 1" chops, I grilled them about 5 minutes).
8. Flip chops, spin then for a cool criss-cross pattern on each pork chop. Grill for about 3-4 minutes more until still tender but not squishy.
9. Serve by placing pork chop on a plate and topping with a heaping tablespoon of glaze over the top.