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Barbecued Sticky Chinese Pork Chops

Give chops an oriental kick with this easy, sticky marinade

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and 7,155 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine, which smells roasted, nutty. The science ↓

The recipe

Easily halved or doubled
Prep30 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: peanut, soy, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. In a bowl, whisk together the five-spice powder, ground cinnamon, hoisin sauce, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp honey, dry sherry, grated ginger and crushed garlic. Set half aside for glazing.

  2. Coat the pork chops in the remaining marinade, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

  3. In a small bowl, whisk the fish sauce, lime juice and soft brown sugar. Add the shallot, red chilli and cucumber, toss, and set aside.

  4. Heat a heavy frying pan or grill pan over medium-high heat with no added oil. Shake off excess marinade and cook the chops for about 4 minutes per side, brushing with the reserved glaze as they cook.

  5. Cook until the thickest part of each chop reaches 145°F (63°C), then rest the chops for 3 minutes before serving.

  6. Bring any leftover marinade to a boil in a small pan for 1 minute before spooning it over the chops.

  7. Serve the chops with the cucumber salad, scattered with chopped mint and chopped roasted peanuts.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pork + garlictop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together7,155 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  2. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Ginger + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together6,402 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Cinnamon + honeytop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,446 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  5. Cinnamon + sugartop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Cinnamon and sugar share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, cinnamon, sauce, sugar, honey, sherry, ginger):

  1. Clovebetter flavor fit
  2. Nutmegbetter flavor fit
  3. Cardamombetter flavor fit
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, cinnamon, sauce, sugar, honey, sherry, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).