Zingy Pork Chops
Bacon, soy, and honey over chops in a dutch oven. Car-camping food that takes coals seriously.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 69
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Bacon | 4 slices | cut into 1-inch pieces |
|---|---|---|
| Pork chops | 6 | bone-in holds up better to coals |
| Onion | 1 cup, chopped | chop at home and bag it |
| Garlic | 2 cloves, minced | |
| Soy sauce | 1/4 cup | |
| Honey | 3 tbsp | |
| Chili powder | 1 tsp | |
| Curry powder | 1 tsp | |
| Rice or egg noodles | to serve | cooked separately on a stove |
Method
- Build a coal bed and get a 12-inch dutch oven to frying heat, around 375°F. That is most of the coals underneath and few on the lid.
- Fry the bacon pieces until crisp. Pull them onto a paper towel and leave the fat behind.
- Brown the chops in the bacon fat, five minutes a side. Work in batches if they crowd. Set them on a plate.
- Pour off the excess grease, then cook the onion and garlic in the oven for about five minutes.
- Stir the soy sauce, honey, chili powder, and curry powder together in a cup. Return the chops to the oven, pour the mixture over, and scatter the bacon on top.
- Lid on. Shift coals to baking heat, about 350°F, which is roughly a third under and two thirds on top. Bake 25 minutes.
- Serve over rice or noodles, spooning the pan liquid over everything.
This is a braise pretending to be a fry. The chops get seared hot for crust, then the heat moves to the lid so the sauce reduces around them instead of boiling underneath. That coal shuffle between the two steps is the whole recipe. Skip it and you get chops that are either raw in the middle or dry through.
Honey and soy do the same job here that they do in a glaze: sugar to catch color, salt to season the meat past the surface. The chili and curry powder are there for warmth, not heat. The bacon fat is the cooking medium, so pour off the excess but not all of it. This one stays a car-camping recipe. Six pork chops and a cooler do not go in a pack, and there is no honest shelf-stable version of it.
Packing
Premix the soy, honey, chili, and curry at home in a small screw-top bottle. Chop the onion and mince the garlic ahead too. Meat and bacon ride in the cooler on ice, bottom layer, sealed.
Variations
- Swap the chops for boneless thighs and cut the bake to 20 minutes.
- A splash of vinegar in the sauce cuts the honey if it reads too sweet.
- No dutch oven: brown everything in a cast iron skillet and finish covered with foil over low coals.
https://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/recipe/zingy_pork_chops-1898.asp