Braaied apple-soy pork loin chops with grilled apple

I was very nearly born Chinese, and it seems to have come out in my cooking. This marinade of apple juice and soy sauce is a marriage of what I might have been with what I am – a son of the southern African soil, though of Yorkshire descent.

But my life may have been very different. One night in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, in 1951, my parents Cyril and Betty, four years into their marriage, had a bit of a debate about where they were going to spend their lives.

Dad had been all over the East during the war, and had told mom that he could not live in a cold climate any longer. The final choice came down to Hong Kong – or Oranjemund, the dusty diamond-mining town just over the Orange River in southwestern Namibia.

My mom was vehement. “I’m not ‘avin’ me kids brought up Chinese, Cyril.”

The die was cast and here we are. Both of them went on to teach their third-born how to cook, my teachers taught me English, and somehow I stumbled into newspapers where, over time, I gradually turned towards writing about food, after years in arts journalism.

I even went to Hong Kong once, in 1996, and had five days and nights of imagining what it might have been like to have been brought up there.

My eating life would certainly have been different. And once I discovered Chinese food, as a young adult, in Cape Town restaurants, somehow my palate seemed to have a memory of it. Maybe dad’s forays into the eating dens of Shanghai somehow seeped through. Strange that – he hated garlic and chilli. I love both.

There is garlic in this recipe, but no chilli. But you could easily add some heat if you like. And it’s a very simple marinade – just 200ml of apple juice out of a Liqui Fruit carton, mixed with about 2 Tbsp of soy sauce. A few shakes of crushed dried garlic, a quick stir, and all that’s left to do is immerse the pork chops in it and refrigerate for the rest of the day.

I served this with my Waldorf potato salad.

Tony’s pork loin chops in apple and soy, with grilled apple

(Per 2 pork loin chops / multiply as needed)

Ingredients

2 pork loin chops

200ml apple juice

2 Tbsp soy sauce

A few shakes of crushed dried garlic

Salt and black pepper to taste

1 apple, unpeeled, unscored

A few squeezes of lemon juice

2 Tbsp butter

1 tsp Banhoek garlic chilli oil

Method

If you’re braaing in the evening, put the chops in their marinade in the morning. Mix the apple juice, soy and garlic in a tub and immerse the chops, making sure they’re completely covered by the marinade.

Remove from the fridge at least an hour before braaing them.

Slice the apples into rounds about 0.5cm thick. Squeeze lemon juice over them. There’s no need to peel or core them; you just cut around the core when tucking in.

Braai the chops in a hinged grid until the edges have browned but the centre of the meat is still tender. Season with salt and black pepper along the way, on both sides. Stop cooking sooner than later, as pork seizes up quickly on the coals.

Scrape some coals away from under the grid, and put a plancha (or a hardy heavy metal pan) right on the coals. Add butter and a little chilli oil and, when bubbling, grill the apple slices on both sides until caramelised and fairly soft.

Don’t discard the leftover marinade. Pour it into a small pot and reduce it on a high heat, to be poured over the chops when serving, with the apple slices poised at a jaunty angle. DM/TGIFood

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award, in 2021 and 2023.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.

This dish is photographed on a plate by Mervyn Gers Ceramics.