Bryan Gileo is a man of simple tastes. When the Peckinpah chef gets home after a long shift at the Gastown restaurant, all he wants is an ice-cold beer, a shot of bourbon, and a plate of meat and potatoes.

“I don’t really stray far from grilled meat, grilled onions, potatoes, and some sort of green, and that’s pretty much all I eat,” Gileo tells the Georgia Straight while seated at Peckinpah’s bar.

The young chef got his start in the kitchen of a family-owned pizza parlour in Port Coquitlam while he was still in high school. Moving to Vancouver after graduation, Gileo worked at the Reef, Deacon’s Corner, and Cobre before joining the culinary team at Peckinpah over a year ago. The restaurant specializes in North Carolina–style barbecue, which is characterized by smoked, dry-rubbed meat.

“What they do in North Carolina is they apply vinegar to moisten it up to taste,” Gileo explains, noting that Canadians tend to be more familiar with barbecue that’s slathered in a dark, tomato-based sauce.

At home, Gileo uses a cast-iron skillet to grill his meat, and he explains that this is a good option if you don’t own a barbecue. He also prefers to cook his meat and sauces separately and draws many of his sauce ideas from his mom.

“Applesauce is something that my mom used to always make,” Gileo recalls. “It’s super easy, and we’d have it with everything. It’s good by itself. It’s good with meat. It’s good on ice cream. It’s good for breakfast.”

While a good sauce can mask poorly cooked meat, Gileo says the most common mistake people make when grilling at home is over-handling the meat.

“You want to let it sit [in the pan], let it do its job, and not touch it too much,” he explains. “You want to let the meat rest for a minute or two after it’s cooked too. Let the meat relax before you get to it, because it’ll make it way more moist. Even if you overcook it and you let it rest for a minute, it won’t be as offensively dry.”

His other tip for grilling is to brine pork and poultry, which allows moisture to be drawn in while it’s cooking. The end result is a much more flavourful piece of meat.

“The key is to brine the meat beforehand and not touch it when it’s cooking,” Gileo says. “Pretend you’re a caveman. It’s not rocket science.”

Bryan Gileo’s grilled pork chop with applesauce

Ingredients

½ lb (225 g) pork chop
8 cooking apples (such as Golden Delicious)
½ cup (125 mL) honey
¾ cup (175 mL) water
1 cinnamon stick
¼ tsp (1 mL) ground cumin
¼ tsp (1 mL) ground coriander
1 lemon or lime
1 Tbsp (15 mL) butter

Method

1. Brine the pork chop by filling a sealable plastic bag with ¼ cup (50 mL) salt and 2 cups (500 mL) water. Place the pork chop in the bag, seal, and put in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours. Before cooking, remove pork chop from bag, pat the meat dry, and place on a plate to allow the meat to come up to room temperature.

2. Peel the apples, roughly chop into large pieces, and discard cores.

3. Place apples, honey, water, cinnamon stick, cumin, and coriander in a large pot. Add the zest and juice of the lemon or lime. Cover the pot and cook over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Preheat oven to 375 ° F (190 ° C).

5. Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the pork chop and place on hot skillet. Cook 1 to 2 minutes, then rotate the meat a quarter-turn. Cook another 1 to 2 minutes, or until the bottom side of the pork chop is golden brown. Flip pork chop over and repeat on the other side.

6. Remove skillet from heat. Place the butter on top of the pork chop, then put skillet in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the centre of the chop reaches 145 ° F (60 ° C) to 150 ° F (65 ° C).

7. Remove apple mixture from heat and mash or purée to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

8. Remove pork chop from oven and let rest for 3 to 5 minutes. To serve, place pork chop on a plate and spoon applesauce over top.

Yield: 2 servings and some leftover applesauce.

Recipe has not been tested by the Georgia Straight.