Pan Fried Pork Chops

Two beautifully seasoned and cooked Pork chops on a black plate with cooked garlic cloves and herbs.

The BEST Classic Pork Chop

This is a bone in center cut tenderloin pork chop recipe. These are thin chops cut about 1/2″ to 5/8″ inch thick, seasoned and pan fried with bacon grease, butter, fresh herbs and cloves of garlic. It’s a quick recipe, cooked with a room temperature chop in under 7 minutes. The flavor is incredible and it is, hands down, my favorite way to cook pork chops.

A package of four, un-cooked, center cut pork tenderloin steaks.
4 unwrapped, raw, center cut pork tenderloin steaks
2 fully cooked pork chops on a black plate with cooked Garlic, Rosemary and Thyme.
How to cook Pan Fried Pork Chops video tutorial by PoorMansGourmet.

Bone-in Pork Chops

2 Pork chops, 5/8″ inch thick
Kosher Salt & Pepper
1 tbsp Bacon Grease
2 tbsp Butter
4 Cloves Garlic
1 Sprig Thyme
1 branch Rosemary
1 Sprig Oregano or Sage, optional

Hot Pan, Medium High Heat #5 Setting on my stove. Grease in, Garlic & Herbs in, chops in bones in the middle. Cook 3 minutes then flip. Add Butter, cook another 3 min. Spoon the butter over the chops then sear the fat sides. Add the chops back to the skillet, spoon the butter once more and remove the herbs.

I love these Pork Chops with No Bake Barbecue Baked Beans, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Dirty Rice and Garlic Parmesan Brussel Sprouts.

Be sure to watch the short video tutorial and I’ll show you exactly how to make these incredible Pan Fried Pork Chops.

Grilled Meatloaf

1″ inch slice of Meatloaf with a Hoisin Sauce glaze on a blue plate.

The Best Meatloaf

Most folks agree that you haven’t really had meat loaf until you’ve had it grilled. I originally wrote this recipe using an oven but a grill follows the same basic principles. Set you’re temp, keep the lid down and watch the clock and that’s basically all you have to do. My recipe, however, excludes ketchup. If you’ve got a problem with that, just top it with a Ketchup glaze at the end instead of my Hoisin Sauce and no one’s the wiser. I can promise you this, though, this recipe is tender, moist, flavorful, it will still stay on your fork and it makes the best leftover sandwich’s.

Raw ground beef and pork sausage in separate packages.

Meatloaf not Beef loaf

One of the things I learned, long ago, was to mix sausage with Beef in any recipe with a ton of ingredients and this recipe is no different. I mean, that’s one of the secrets to my Chili recipe and it is phenomenal. There is a 2 to 3 standard ratio that I use being 2 parts sausage to 3 parts beef and you’ll see that reflected in the ingredients. After all, we’re making Grilled Meatloaf, not beef loaf.

If you’ve ever tried my Chili recipe, you might notice that the ingredients are very similar to this recipe, too. I’ve simplified each recipe with the addition of taco seasoning but there are also a few other herbs and spices to fine tune it to the point to where they’re distinguished. Though, some things just shouldn’t change.

Chopped and sauteed onions in a large pan on the stove top.

Raw or Cooked Onions

Technically, once the Grilled Meatloaf is cooked, the onions are cooked as well but they usually go into the meat mix raw. Barf! I don’t know what it is about raw onions, in this recipe, but I can’t stand them cooked that way in meatloaf or on pizza. This is crazy to say because I love onions. In fact I’m a huge fan but, for some reason, I just can’t stomach them in a meatloaf recipe. That’s why I recommend sauteing them first. It’s just a personal preference but I find that there is a much more enjoyable flavor and texture, doing it this way, too but whether you choose to do it this way will be up to you.

Raw Meatloaf, all mixed, shaped and uncooked in a cake pan.
Mixing the Meatloaf Ingredients

There’s really nothing special you have to do to mix the ingredients correctly. Other than the sauteing of the chopped onion, that I’m recommending, all you have to do is mix everything together into one big mush, then shape into a loaf on a baking tray or sheet.

You may find that the meat mix is very wet and you might be tempted to add more bread crumbs but this is folly. In order to maintain moisture, the meat loaf must be like this. A dried out Meatloaf is just as bad as any dried out or over cooked Roasted Turkey!

Grilled and glazed Meatloaf in the roasting pan on the grill.
How to Grill Meatloaf

Grilling Meatloaf really isn’t much different than baking it in the oven. You need to establish a 350° Fahrenheit temp, with the lid down, and cook over indirect heat. The other difference is, just rotating the pan half way through cooking and I demonstrate everything you need to know in the video tutorial.

Because I use a propane grill, it’s easy to focus my heat from 1 out of the 3 burners by turning the front burner on only, then cooking the meatloaf over indirect heat over the other two burners, not lit. The only thing I might recommend, if you’r using gas too, is adding some chips to the lit burner to get the smoke flavor affect going. That’s the only thing I wish I did differently in the video, just to add more smoke flavor. If you’re using charcoal or smoker anyway, you’re already set!

Fully Grilled Meatloaf, cooked and cooling down on a cutting board for slicing.

Grilling Meatloaf Ingredients:

1.5 lbs Hamburger
1 lbs Pork Sausage, breakfast
1 Onion, chopped and sauteed in Olive oil and salted
1 pkg Taco Seasoning, original (2 oz )
1 tbsp Adobo Sauce, from Chipotle Peppers
1 15 oz can Diced Tomatoes
1 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Mexican Oregano
1 tsp Coriander
1 tbsp Worcestorshire Sauce
1 cup Bread Crumbs
2 Egg
2 tbsp Brown Sugar
5 Cloves Garlic, chopped

Hoisin Sauce for Glaze

Mix all of the ingredients together and shape the meat into a loaf in a cake pan. Grill or bake at 350° Fahrenheit, 45 minutes, add glaze and bake at 400° Fahrenheit for 15 more minutes. If you want to see how I make a Mushroom and Swiss with Leftover Meatloaf, CLICK HERE!

Grille Meatloaf video tutorial by PoorMansGourmet

Barbacoa Pork

Slow roasted and marinated Barbacoa Pork Picnic Roast.

The Best Barbacoa Pork

Usually, when I hit a grand slam, I’m either running the bases or shoveling food in my face at Denny’s. Which one of those two moments do you think this is? If you guessed Denny’s, you’re half right. Only, this time, I’m stuffing my face with this amazing Barbacoa Pork recipe because it’s a winner.

Marinated Pork Picnic Roast for Barbacoa Pork.

Barbacoa Pork Marinade

In case you don’t know, Barbacoa is a recipe that was developed years ago in the Caribbean and it’s where the word barbecue derives. It’s usually prepared with beef meat, from the head. Sometimes goat or lamb is substituted for more gaminess and flavor(I think that’s a made up word, “Gaminess?” idk).

In this recipe, I use a Pork Picnic Roast(shoulder), and I used the Barbacoa Beef recipe that I filmed and posted a couple of years ago and transposed it for pork by adding Cilantro and Orange juice to the ingredients. That might sound crazy but it works, good I might add. And, Carnitas has Orange juice in it so, don’t even sweat it. Anyway, I only compare the two because of the mad similarities; they’re both pork recipes, with similar ingredients, cooked for long hours at a time and they both make excellent tacos.

My favorite taco condiments, onion, cilantro and lime.

Barbacoa Pork Tacos

In my opinion, the best tacos are fried tacos and this Barbacoa Pork recipe is no exception. I do occasionally double stack corn tortilla’s and eat my tacos soft but, nothing beats a little hot oil and some salt, to crisp up and flavor a boring tortilla. Then, I just keep it real with some simple condiments; onion, cilantro and lime. No need for salsa because the fresh flavor and spice is already in each bite. If you want to check out my Pico De Gallo recipe, however, I’m not going to stop you.

Barbacoa Pork Ingredients:

10 lbs Pork Picnic Roast
Kosher Salt and Pepper 1/2 tsp per lb

Marinade
1 small onion
6 Garlic Cloves, peeled
2 Chipotle Chili’s in Adobo Sauce
2 tbsp Adobo Sauce
1 1/2 tbsp Cumin
1 tbsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
1 tbsp Oregano, dried
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 cup Orange juice
1/2 bunch Cilantro
1 cup Red Enchilada Sauce, PMGK Recipe Only

Red Enchilada Sauce Ingredients: (Watch the Video)

12 Large Dehydrated Chili’s, seeded
1 qt Chicken Broth, approximately
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Onion Powder
1/4 tsp Salt, adjust to taste
2 garlic Cloves

Follow the instructions in the Barbacoa Pork video tutorial and Bake the marinated Picnic Roast at 200° Fahrenheit for 12 hours. For Tacos, I recommend Corn tortilla’s, raw or fried topped with Barbacoa Pork and Garnished with chopped Onion, Cilantro and Fresh Lime.