Braaied pork loin chops with green fig preserve

Green fig preserve syrup and French mustard; now that’s a marriage made in Huguenot heaven. If you follow my food writing you’ll know by now that I regard the syrup in jars of fruit preserves as an ingredient in its own right and here’s a recipe that puts it to great use: mix some of the syrup from a jar of green fig preserves with Moutarde de Dijon aux miel, which is Dijon mustard with honey.

I also used a little brown rice vinegar and soy sauce to tame the sweetness, some ground ginger, and ginger pickle brine. There’s magic in those jars in the cupboard and fridge.

Ingredients

4 pork loin chops

2 Tbsp green fig preserve syrup

1 Tbsp Moutarde de Dijon aux miel

1 Tbsp brown rice vinegar

1 Tbsp of the brine from a jar of pink pickled ginger

2 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp garlic salt

½ tsp white pepper

Wholegrain mustard for serving

Method

Mix together the syrup, mustard, brown rice vinegar, soy sauce and pickled ginger brine. Stir in the ground ginger, salt and pepper. Immerse the chops in this and marinate in the fridge for several hours.

Drain off the marinade from the chops and grill on the braai above moderate coals until tender but not dry. Rather take them off sooner than later. Keep remaining marinade to use for basting the chops on the braai.

Serve with wholegrain mustard, pickled ginger and green fig preserve. DM

Mervyn Gers Ceramics supplies dinnerware for the styling of some TGIFood shoots. For more information, click here.