Pork Chops with Soy Sauce, Cumin, Lime and Oregano

Now that I've re-discovered pork, I need to come up with creative ways to eat it. I still find pork tasty on its own, but I'm pretty sure that I will become bored with it after a while. I decided that a marinade would be the easiest way for me to add flavor. I put everything together in the morning so that while I'm at school, the marinade can do its thing. Once I get home at 5 after Weight Training, I would shower and it'd be time for dinner! Dinner that's not boring with no other preparations necessary.

The four main flavors in this marinade are all flavors that I love, but the combination of the four is something I never would have thought of. It's new, but it's a "good" new. The cumin, I think, is the most prominent flavor while the soy sauce is second. It was, however, a bit on the salty side. I am going to guess two reasons for this. One, my pork chops were only 1/2 inch thick, so I might have marinaded the thing for too long; and two, the soy sauce I use is a lot stronger than other brands'. So I'll try low sodium soy sauce next time. Otherwise, I enjoyed the pork and I would make it again.



Pork Chops with Soy Sauce, Cumin, Lime, and Oregano
From Kalyn's Kitchen

- 4 boneless pork loin chops (1 inch thick)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- Pinch of Chipotle chile powder, or dash of hot sauce
- 1/2 tsp onion powder, or 1 to 2 tsp grated fresh onion
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder, or use 1 to 2 tsp freshly minced garlic

1. Trim all visible fat from pork chops, and pound with meat mallet (or anything heavy) until pork chops are about 3/4 inch thick.
2. In a bowl, combine soy sauce, lime juice, oil, cumin, oregano, chile powder, onion powder, and garlic powder. Put pork chops in a heavy ziploc bag or plastic dish with a lid, then pour marinade over. Let pork chops marinate 4 to 6 hours in the refrigerator.
3. Take pork chops out of the fridge and let them come to room temperature. On either an outdoor grill or a stove-top grill pan, spray with cooking spray, then preheat the grill or pan to medium-high before cooking.
4. Grilling time can vary greatly depending on the temperature of the grill, temperature of the meat, and even air temperature when grilling outdoors. Use an instant-read meat thermometer to tell when done, but if you don't have one, the pork chops should feel firm to the touch (not hard). Grilled meats continue to cook for a few minutes when you take them off the grill, and don't overcook.
5. To get criss-cross grill marks, lay the meat at an angle for 2 to 3 minutes, then rotate 45 degrees after you have the first set of marks.