Grilled Stuffed Pork Chops

Memorial Day weekend. The last full summer together in Anchorage. Jason moves in August and the countdown is ticking and I'm choosing not to count, choosing to live in the present tense of a relationship that is good and warm and here, even though the "here" has an expiration date. Dr. Reeves says this is healthy. Living in the present despite knowing the future. I say it's exhausting. She says, "Yes." I love Dr. Reeves for saying yes to the exhausting things.

We went to the coastal trail and walked for two hours. The inlet was silver. The mountains across the water were white at the top and green at the bottom. Eagles circled above the fish runs. The entire landscape was doing its Alaskan summer thing — being so beautiful it feels like a violation of modesty, like the state is showing off, like the mountains are flexing. Jason held my hand and the hand was warm and the day was warm and the knowing-he's-leaving was cold underneath the warmth, an undercurrent, a layer.

I made inihaw na bangus — grilled milkfish, the Filipino classic, the fish butterflied and stuffed with tomatoes, onions, and garlic and grilled until the skin chars and the flesh is flaky and infused with the stuffing. Milkfish is the Philippines' national fish — bony and difficult and worth every bone. I found it frozen at the Asian market, which stocks it because Lourdes and her generation of Filipinas demanded it thirty years ago and Mr. Nguyen complied.

The grilling was meditative — watching the fish cook over charcoal, the skin blackening, the garlic and tomato aromatics rising from the slit belly. Jason sat nearby with a beer (his one vice, and a mild one) and we were domestic and temporary and permanent all at once. Domestic because we live together. Temporary because August is coming. Permanent because the recipes I'm teaching him will outlast the distance — the sinigang he'll make in Fairbanks, the adobo he'll attempt in his new kitchen, the food that carries me to him even when I'm six hours away.

The bangus was excellent. Smoky, garlicky, the bones requiring the patient picking that is the tax you pay for the best-tasting fish in Southeast Asia. We picked bones and ate fish and the sun was up at 10 PM and the evening was infinite and the summer was here and August was not here yet and the not-yet is a gift. Take the gift. Eat the fish. Pick the bones. Let the evening be infinite. It won't last. Nothing lasts. But the not-lasting doesn't diminish the having.

The bangus was the heart of that evening, but it’s the act of grilling — the tending, the waiting, the smell of charcoal and aromatics lifting into the 10 PM Alaskan sun — that I keep returning to when I think about that weekend. Grilled Stuffed Pork Chops carry that same meditative quality: something you stuff with good things, seal up, and trust the fire to finish. It’s a recipe I’ve made on the same grill, on evenings just like that one, and it’s become part of the rotation I’m quietly teaching Jason before August arrives — because a man who can stuff a pork chop and tend a fire is a man who will eat well, even six hours away.

Prep Time: 20 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 40 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

4 bone-in pork loin chops, 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick
1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup finely diced onion
1/4 cup finely diced green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
Toothpicks or kitchen twine, for sealing

Instructions

Prepare the grill. Preheat a charcoal or gas grill to medium-high heat (about 400°F). Clean and oil the grates well.
Make the stuffing. In a small bowl, combine the shredded cheddar, diced onion, diced bell pepper, garlic, smoked paprika, and thyme. Mix until evenly combined.
Pocket the chops. Using a sharp paring knife, cut a horizontal pocket into the side of each pork chop, slicing almost to the bone but leaving the edges intact. Season the inside and outside of each chop with salt and black pepper.
Stuff and seal. Divide the stuffing evenly among the four chops, pressing it gently into each pocket. Secure the opening with toothpicks or tie with kitchen twine to hold the stuffing in during grilling.
Oil the chops. Brush the outside of each stuffed chop lightly with olive oil to prevent sticking and encourage a good sear.
Grill the chops. Place the chops on the hot grill. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes per side, turning once, until the internal temperature reaches 145°F on an instant-read thermometer and the exterior is well-marked and lightly charred at the edges.
Rest and serve. Transfer the chops to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before removing toothpicks or twine. Serve whole or sliced to show the stuffed interior.

Nutrition (per serving)

Grilled Stuffed Pork Chops — The Patience of the Grill, the Gift of the Not-Yet