Broiled Pork Chops with Rosemary and Fish Sauce

It’s been a rough four weeks since Christmas, when my parents began having COVID-19 symptoms. My siblings and I circled the wagons and luckily, Mom and Dad had mild-ish symptoms and are now doing okay. 

We’re fortunate to have my sister as a doctor and brother as a pharmacist. I also sought advice from a close friend who is an infectious disease doctor. My mom’s dear friend was recovering from the virus herself and she checked in daily with Mom to coach her through the illness. During this time, we lost two family members. Pile on top of that all the weird things that happened on the national and global scene, and I just wanted to hide under a rock. 

I know I’m not alone in the precarious time we’re living in. What to do to cope? I kept myself distracted with writing assignments, fielding reader questions, and cooking. Those were all strategies for escape. And, sometimes escape can lead to creativity. 

Why Rosemary?

Using rosemary in a Viet-ish marinade stems from the fact that people often asked me what they may use to substitute for fresh lemongrass. You can use frozen lemongrass but I’ve not found powdered or dried lemongrass to be of much use. I once pondered lemongrass essential oil but the bottle said it wasn’t for eating. 

Rosemary has a medicinal pungency that’s strong. It’s not the same as lemongrass but it functions similarly to add an herbal hit that says something like, “Hey, listen to me!” I wondered how rosemary would be in a spiced up, fish sauce marinade that I’d normally use lemongrass for.

So I made a marinade that follows a similar path as for my grilled lemongrass pork but added turmeric and paprika for bright color and flavor notes. The marinade tasted good once it pureed up. I often taste marinade before adding the raw protein. Then I let the marinade do its thing on thick cut pork chops. 

After cooking, I set the pork atop the sprigs to rest and collect its juice, plus get a bit of rosemary’s woodsy oils. I borrowed that technique from this recipe by Mary-Frances Heck at Food and Wine magazine. 

Broiling vs Grilling

Why broiling? Not only is it winter and I don’t like grilling outdoors after dark, but I also wanted to use the new stove’s broiler. I’m always looking for an excuse to keep test driving the Cafe range! 

Broiling isn’t sexy like grilling but honestly, for a thick pork chop, it’s like high-heat roasting the meat. The key is to gently blot moisture from the pork and broil it about 5 inches from the heat source. 

I prepared this recipe twice in the past five days with chops of varying thicknesses. The first time, I overcooked the chops. The second time (below), with a 1 ¼-inch-thick chop, the meat was nice and juicy. 

I serve thick chops thinly sliced because each one is too much meat for one serving. These chops surprisingly are great with eastern or western dishes. Add nuoc cham dipping sauce to tilt it toward Vietnam. 

I don’t know how often I’ll use rosemary instead of lemongrass, but in this instance, it was delicious! I do know that this was an easy, fun distraction from the tensions of the moment. Cooking is a great coping strategy. Broil on, my friends! 

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Broiled Pork Chops with Rosemary and Fish Sauce

For best flavor, select fatty chops for this recipe. You’ll be sorry if you go lean or use boneless chops. Gnawing on the bone is the cook’s bonus!

Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 2 thick-cut bone-in pork chops (1 ½ pounds total)
• 5 to 6 sprigs rosemary
• ½ medium yellow onion, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon paprika (regular, smoked or hot)
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
• ½ cup Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce (optional, see Note)

Instructions

• Pat the pork chops dry and set aside on a plate or in a zip-top plastic bag.
• Strip the leaves from a 5-inch sprig of rosemary, dropping them into a small food processor. Set the remaining rosemary aside. To the processor, add the onion, garlic, sugar, salt, paprika, pepper, turmeric, fish sauce and 1 tablespoon oil. Whirl into a puree. Scrape onto the pork and spread it all around. Cover (or close the bag) and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to 24 hours. Let sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before cooking.
• Position a rack in the top third of the oven (aim for the pork to cook about 5 inches from the heat source), and set the oven to broil. Line a small baking sheet with foil and place a rack on top. Scrape the marinade off the pork (reserve it for other uses; see Note below) and gently blot moisture from the pork. Place the pork on the rack and drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil.
• Broil the pork chops for 5 to 6 minutes per side, or until browned at the edge and a meat thermometer inserted registers about 145F. At the end, I like to broil the first side for about 45 seconds extra to refresh it.
• Put the remaining rosemary on a plate and set the pork chops on top. Loosely tent with foil, a domed lid or inverted bowl. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing and serving with the dipping sauce, if you like.

Notes

The nuoc cham dipping sauce recipe is here.

If rosemary isn’t available, use ¼ cup chopped cilantro sprigs and let the chops rest on a plate without any herbs.

Instead of paprika, try ⅛ teaspoon ground annatto for cheerful color. 

After scraping off the marinade, I cooked it down to little crispy bits in a skillet and showered them on the pork for serving. Or, add rice to the pan and make a quick dirty rice.

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