Grilled Pork Chops With Sweet And Sour Onions

You've probably heard of Bistecca alla Fiorentina

Tuscan porterhouse steak grilled with salt and precious little else. Well, here's a dish Tuscans keep to themselves

Grilled pork chops with onion sauce. The primal grilled twist, you grill the pork and the onions over wood

First, the onions. These are called cipollini. They are traditional Italian onions

very sweet, very richly flavored, and flat, which maximizes the surface area exposed to the fire

The first thing you want to do is peel the cipollinis, cut off the bottom, and remove the papery skin

but leave the root intact. The root will help hold the onion together during the grilling

When you have to grill a lot of small items, the easiest way is to thread them onto a skewer

And I use a flat skewer so the onions won't spin around

This recipe was inspired by Bucalupe, one of the most famous chop houses in Florence

So once you have your onion kebabs, brush them on both sides with extra virgin olive oil

and season with coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

This is a front-loading, wood-burning grill. It burns wood chunks and logs

I'm using oak in the best Tuscan tradition. First, we'll put on the onions

They take longer to cook than the pork. Arrange the onions on the great root side up to start

Let me show you how to make the sauce. The sauce begins with dry red wine

balsamic vinegar, and honey. So it's a sort of sweet and sour sauce

whisk the mixture until the honey is dissolved and place the pan on the grill

boil until thick and syrupy about 8 to 12 minutes meanwhile, don't forget to check on the onions

you want to grill them until soft and golden brown and if you see the heat is not quite hot enough In one spot you can just shift the logs over This is an extremely interactive method of grilling I love it Check out these mammoth long Tuscan pork chops

Each one weighs over a pound. Start by brushing the tops of the pork chop with extra virgin olive oil

and season with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Now arrange the pork chops on the grill

These guys are big. Cooking time will be about eight minutes per side

And while you're at it, turn the grilled cipollini onions. Un-skewer the onions

They are nice and tender, but not so soft that they fall apart

Beautiful. Now finish the sauce. Simply add the cipollini onions to the honey wine vinegar reduction And stir in about four tablespoons of butter and return the pan to the heat just to melt the butter

So give the chops their final turn

And for extra flavor, you can baste with the drippings that are channeled into the drip pan

When they feel firm to the touch, they're done. Man, did these look good

Spoon the cipollini onion sauce Over the pork chops And to finish, just a sprinkle of finely chopped flat leaf parsley

Check it out. Look how moist that pork is. Mmm

Oh, man. Those smoky wood-grilled pork chops, the sweet onions, this is amazing