Maple Glaze

Darnit, I forgot to take a picture of my succulent pork dinner last night.  It just smelled way too good wait.  Sorry…..

But!  I bet you are dying to know how it seduced us so quickly?  I will tell you!

It is a well known fact that marinades are great to add flavor and juice to otherwise dry and tough meat. Pork can be yummy, I'm not a super huge fan, but my husband is.  To me, it always has that piggy barnyard taste.  Ham, not so much, but pork, yuck.  I'm always  trying to find ways to make it more palatable for myself.  I know, you probably are thinking I am insane right now.  But keep in mind, blending brings out all hidden flavors.  For example, I love homemade bread, but when I blend it, all I can taste is yeast.  Like I said, I have to be very creative to make food tasty for me and my family.

I like watching "Good Eats" with Alton Brown, he always has great tips and ideas.  I learned all about marinades from him, and so last night, I decided that would be the way to go.  I would be happy just being a vegetarian because it requires less prep and clean up than meat, but Nick would die I'm sure.

And yes, this is an original marinade!

You'll need two pork chops, cut is half so that you have 4 pieces the same size as the original chop.  Put them into a quart freezer bag.

Mix the following together in a bowl:
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup maple syrup (the real kind that comes from trees)
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 heaping tbsp brown sugar
1  tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp marjoram
salt and pepper
crushed red pepper flakes

Once it's all incorporated, pour the marinade into the freezer bag, place in a bowl, and let sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours, better overnight probably.

We have also discovered, the best way to retain a meat's juiciness is to grill it.  Sadly, we don't have a real grill.  But!  We do have a fake one (stovetop kind) and a bottle of liquid smoke.  Hey, it's all you need, I promise.  Once the grill is heated and oiled, place your pork chops on, dripping a few drops of liquid smoke on each piece.  Grill until you have nice dark grill marks on both sides and the meat is a flakey white.  No pink in pork, or you will be spending your evening in the bathroom.

And let me just say, there was not one piece left over!