Pork Chop Barbecue

Isn't weird how you can spell barbecue so many ways? Could be BBQ, barbecue (as above), or barbeque...I'm sure there are others. I wonder if they would ever use that word in a spelling bee, because it would be easy for the kid to say he was right. Anyway we had this last night, and it was just so-so. It smelled awesome while it was cooking, but it almost seemed like the sauce didn't really flavor the meat, it was just on there. I kind of have bad luck with pork chops being dry as it is. But I'll still give it to you in case you have a moist pork chop supplier. It's from Better Homes & Gardens (one more to go!).

Pork Chop Barbecue
1/2 cup water
3 tbsp vinegar
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper
1 slice lemon
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup ketchup (another bad spelling bee word)
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 to 2 tsp liquid smoke (only $0.86 at the Wal-mart. I used 1 1/2 tsp because I had never used it before and decided to go middle of the road)
6 pork chops, 3/4" thick
1-2 tbsp cooking oil

For sauce, in a small saucepan combine water, vinegar, sugar, mustard, and both peppers. Add lemon slice and onion. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes. Stir in ketchup, worcestershire sauce, and liquid smoke. Return to boiling. Remove from heat; discard lemon slice. In a large skillet brown pork chops, half at a time, in hot oil over medium high heat. Place chops in a 3 quart rectangular baking dish; pour sauce over top. Bake, uncovered, @ 350 for 25-30 minutes or until chops are slightly pink in the center and juices run clear, turning chops once. Remove chops to a serving platter & pour sauce over all. 6 servings.

So, predictably, Emma did not care for this. She ate it, but it took her like 25 minutes to eat 4 bites. Sam ate his but he wasn't crazy about it. He said the sauce burned his throat all the way down. But it wasn't even spicy. Oh well. I'm not keeping this one, but it was still okay.