Pork Chops with Chili Sauce -- The Long Cook, the Patient Thing

I've been thinking about the blog more this week. It's been going for over two years now — my first post was September 2016 from Fort Carson, when I couldn't sleep and needed something to do with my hands that wasn't destructive. Now I'm on the ranch and posting twice a week and the readership is something, though I don't track the numbers obsessively because that's not why I do it.

The Wyoming man who emailed me in July wrote again this month. He said, "Made it through Christmas sober. Wanted to tell you." I wrote back immediately: "Good. Keep going." He said he'd been making the elk chili with venison — he lives in Wyoming so he gets deer — and it'd been the thing he made when things got bad. I said, "That's what it's for." He said, "I figured." We don't know each other's names. We don't need to. We know each other's fires.

I went to the VA on Monday and Dr. Stein asked how the year had gone overall. I said it had been a year of building — the farrier business, the ranch operations, the sobriety, the relationship that was right even though it ended. He asked about Sarah. I told him. He said, "The ending was handled well." I said, "It ended, that's all I know." He said, "That's enough. Some things end right." I thought about "ending right" for the rest of the day. Ending with honesty. Ending with kindness. Ending without damage to the other person. Maybe that's right.

I cooked a pork shoulder Sunday — twelve hours on the grill at low heat, pulled at the end. The long cook. The patient thing. I ate it over several days and thought about the second year starting.

I cooked the shoulder low and slow all day Sunday, and when it was done I sat with it for a while before pulling it apart—just the two of us, the fire and me. That kind of cooking teaches you something about waiting without forcing. These pork chops with chili sauce are a different cut, a faster cook, but they carry the same spirit: heat applied with intention, something that rewards you if you don’t rush it. After a year of building things carefully—the business, the sobriety, the things that ended right—this is the kind of meal that makes sense to me.

Pork Chops with Chili Sauce

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 35 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 bone-in pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chili sauce (bottled)
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Instructions

1. Season the chops. Pat pork chops dry with paper towels. Season both sides evenly with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
2. Make the chili sauce glaze. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, combine chili sauce, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, apple cider vinegar, and red pepper flakes if using. Stir and simmer for 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.
3. Sear the chops. Heat olive oil in a large skillet or cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Add pork chops and sear 3–4 minutes per side until golden brown.
4. Glaze and finish. Reduce heat to medium-low. Spoon chili sauce glaze over the chops, coating both sides. Cover and cook an additional 8–10 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 145°F. Baste with glaze once more before removing from heat.
5. Rest and serve. Let chops rest 5 minutes before serving. Spoon any remaining pan glaze over the top. Serve with rice, roasted potatoes, or a simple green salad.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 310 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 18g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 780mg