Grilled Apple-Mustard Pork Chops with Charred Asparagus & Smashed Potatoes

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Score: 6/10

A conceptually strong and flavorful spring recipe with a great mix of grilled elements. However, it requires urgent fixes for a cross-contamination hazard with the glaze, needs thicker apple slices to survive the grill, and requires added fat for the smashed potatoes to prevent a dry texture.

Strengths

• Appealing seasonal flavor profile balancing rich pork with sharp mustard, sweet apples, and bright lemon.
• Accurate and safe final cooking temperature provided for the pork chops (145°F).
• Smart use of the grill to handle the protein, vegetables, fruit, and citrus all at once.

Issues

• high / safety: Step 4 instructs brushing the pork with 'any remaining glaze' after Step 2 says to 'rub over the 2 pork chops'. If the remaining glaze in the bowl has been in contact with raw pork hands/utensils or the raw chops themselves, this introduces a serious cross-contamination risk if brushed on near the end of cooking.
• medium / cookability: The recipe calls for 'thinly sliced' apples to be grilled. Thin apple slices will burn, dry out, or turn to mush on a medium-high grill. They need to be cut into thicker wedges or thick rings to withstand grilling.
• medium / flavor: The smashed potatoes are made with boiled potatoes, salt, pepper, and lemon juice, but no fat. Without butter or olive oil, the potatoes will be quite dry and pasty.
• low / clarity: Step 2 calls for 1 teaspoon of lemon juice, but Step 5 calls for grilling 'the lemon halves'. The instructions should clarify to squeeze a teaspoon of juice from one half before grilling.

Suggested fixes

• Explicitly instruct the cook to reserve a portion of the apple-mustard glaze in a separate bowl before handling the raw pork to use for brushing later safely.
• Change the apple preparation in the ingredient list from 'thinly sliced' to 'cut into 1/2-inch thick wedges' or 'thick rings'.
• Add 1-2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil to the ingredient list and instruct the cook to mash it into the potatoes in Step 6.
• Clarify in Step 2 to squeeze the required 1 tsp of juice from one of the lemon halves before taking both halves to the grill.