Cooking over a wood fire is my favorite way to get great tasting meat. Start with a thick-cut pork chop. It’s darned near impossible to cook thin cuts of meat over a wood fire without over-or-under cooking them. Buy thick cuts and enjoy the leftovers. My thick pork chops this time came from HyVee, an Iowa-based grocery chain know for quality meat.

The most important step in prepping your chops is to let them come to room temperature before applying heat. Don’t skip this step and expect the chops to come out right. Give it at least an hour. This is a good time to season the meat. I use Cavender’s Greek Seasoning and if that’s not available I simply rely on garlic salt and fresh ground pepper. I’ve tried other Greek seasonings and have never had the same great flavor that I get with Cavender’s. Season the chops liberally with the Cavender’s; if you’re using garlic salt instead, don’t be as generous. I’ve found that pork picks up and retains more salt taste than other types of meat.

I had a bundle of mixed wood with me that had some Oak, Mulberry and Osage pieces. I sharpened my hatchet and split the wood into smaller pieces in order to fit inside the adjustable height grill at the campsite. I let the wood burn for a while to get a good base of hot coals before applying any food. If you use paper, fatwood or lighter fluid to help your fire get started, make certain it is completely burned off before putting food on the grill. I had a light wind blowing and the open end of the grill rotated toward it so it was easy to keep the fire hot.

While I was getting the fire going, my wife DiAnne put together a potato-pack using a couple of different varieties of baby potatoes from The Little Potato Company. These small bags of potatoes are pre-washed, ready to cook and easy to carry along in the motorhome. Di precooked about 2-cups of these in the microwave for 6-minutes then wrapped them in foil with some olive oil, salt and fresh-ground pepper. Even precooked and wrapped in foil, these potatoes picked up the smoky goodness from the wood fire.

After several minutes on each side, I moved the potato-pack to a cooler part of the grill, added a couple of small pieces of wood to keep the fire hot and placed the pork chops directly over the heat. Here’s how I cook & turn the chops:

1. Place chops on grill and cook 3 minutes.
2. Turn chops and swap positions. Cook 3 minutes.
3. Turn chops, rotate meat 90⁰ for cool grill marks and swap positions. Cook 3 minutes.
4. Turn chops, rotate meat 90⁰ for cool grill marks and swap positions. Cook 3 minutes.
5. Place fat side down (chops will be on end leaning against each other) to crisp up the fat for a minute or so.
6. Plate the meat and let sit for 5 minutes before cutting.

Here are a few tips. When you rotate the chops, try to keep the thickest part of the bone near the hottest part of the fire. This will ensure the meat nearest the bone cooks adequately. Also remember that wood does not distribute heat as evenly as charcoal so parts of the grill top will be hotter than other areas. Embrace that and use it to your advantage. Raise the meat from the flame when fat starts dripping and flaring up. Lower the grill top if you don’t hear your chops sizzling.

While the recipe is simple, wood fire grilling does require a little more diligence than charcoal or gas-fired methods. I think the smoky richness the food picks up, however, is well worth it. Last year when I was buying firewood from the Arizona and New Mexico State Parks, much of the wood was Mesquite and really gave a great flavor to the cooking. I’ll be back in those places in just a few weeks!