Grilled Plum Sauce Pork Ribeye Steaks (燒烤酸梅豬排, Siu1 Haau1 Syun1 Mui4 Zyu1 Paai4)

Plum sauce can be purchased at your local Asian supermarket and usually is an accompaniment to roast duck. Koon Chun Sauce Factory makes the plum sauce and it’s the brand I grew up with (but you can use any brand available). The sauce is a sweet and slightly sour, and has a mild spice kick to it. For this recipe, I used plum sauce and, to emphasize the plum flavor, plum wine to marinate pork chops before grilling.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

1½ lb.	750 g.	Pork ribeye or porterhouse chops (豬排, zyu1 paai4), at least 1-inch (2.5 cm.) thick
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Koon Chun brand plum sauce (酸梅醬, syun1 mui4 zoeng3) or equivalent
4 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Plum wine or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

 

Equipment

22.5 in.	57 cm.	Covered charcoal or gas grill (or larger)

 

Instructions

1. Use pork chops at least 1-inch (2.5 cm.) thick – the thicker the better. Marinate the pork chops for at least one hour or overnight in the refrigerator with the ginger and garlic crushed in a garlic press, plum sauce, soy sauce, plum wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. If marinating the pork chops overnight, take it out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking.
2. Prepare the charcoal or gas grill for direct cooking following the manufacturer’s instructions. Light the charcoal or preheat the gas grill accordingly. Soak the wood for smoking (pecan, oak, or any other wood can be used) for one hour if desired. I use dry and not soaked wood.
3.  If using a charcoal grill, arrange the lighted coals on one half of the grill. The side of the grill with the coals (the “hot” side) will be used to grill the pork chops and the side without the coals (the “cold” side) will be used to finish cooking them. For a gas grill, follow the manufacturer’s instructions as to which burners to leave on for direct cooking. Put the smoking wood onto the coals or as per the instructions for the gas grill.
4.  Place the pork chops on the hot side of the covered grill for 2 minutes, and then rotate the pork 90⁰ and brown for another 2 minutes. Turn the pork chops over to brown the other side for 2 minutes covered, and then rotate the pork 90⁰ and brown for another 2 minutes. Move the pork chops to the cold side of the grill and cook the pork covered for another 4 minutes. For thicker pork chops, the amount of time cooking on the cold side needs to be increased. The temperature of your fire and previous experience with your grill will determine the total cooking time for the pork chops. Remove the pork chops from the grill and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.