J and picked up giant pork chops the other day and by giant I mean they were almost 2 inches thick! Most grocery stores slice them pretty thin so it was a nice surprise when we picked these up. I don’t make pork chops very often and if I do buy them I usually cut them up and make stir fry’s or noodle bowls with them. We’ve had a lot of Asian inspired meals lately so I searched the web for something new. I came across Bobby Flay’s Mango/black pepper glazed pork chops with a mango black bean salsa and yucca fries. It sounded so yummy I decided that I wanted to try this out as close to the original recipe as I could.

The salsa was super easy to make but I did add less honey to my version as Mango is a pretty sweet fruit on its own.

MANGO-BLACK BEAN-GREEN ONION SALSA:

  • 2 mangoes, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup cooked black beans, or canned beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 green onions, finely sliced
  • 1 tablespoon serrano pepper, seeded and finely diced
  • 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
  • Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Combine all ingredients in medium bowl and season with salt and pepper. Let sit for 30 minutes before serving.

This salsa was probably my favorite part of the entire meal. I love it when sweet and spicy come together and piled over meat makes this even better. I kept scooping this into my mouth before the meal was complete.


The yucca fries were something new to me. I have never seen or heard of Yucca before and sent J on a wild goose chase to find it. He managed to locate some at the Superstore in the Asian food section. I totally forgot to take a photo before chopping it all up, I guess I was getting hungry.

YUCCA STEAK FRIES:

  • 1 1/2 pounds yucca, peeled and cut into 3-inch sections
  • 3 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
  • 1 tablespoon ancho chile powder
  • 1 1/2 quarts peanut oil

Place yucca in pot filled with 1 quart water and 2 tablespoons of salt. Simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until soft through the center. Remove from heat with slotted spoon to bowl of ice water. Drain on paper towels. Cut yucca into fries, 3 inches long by 3/4 inches wide. Place cornmeal in medium bowl and add 1 tablespoon salt and ancho chile powder. Roll fries in cornmeal mixture. Preheat oil to 370 degrees F. Fry yucca in batches until golden brown. Drain on plate lined with paper towels and salt immediately.

Now, I know I said I was going to try and follow this recipe as closely as possible but when it came to the fries I didn’t. I boiled them as per the above directions but I didn’t throw them in ice water. I just drained them and put them in a bowl to cool down. I then poured olive oil over them, some chilli powder, salt and pepper, stirred and laid them on a parchment lined baking sheet. I cooked mine in the oven on 400 for about 15 minutes instead of frying them. I don’t have a deep fryer, and this method is a bit healthier as well.If you want to try it his way with all the salt and cornmeal, let me know how it goes!

Yucca is super starchy so boiling them I think is key to get some of that starch out. It also softens them up so the oven only needs to crisp them a bit. There sort of reminded us of flavorless yam fries. I think I prefer the potato variety of fries but this was a nice change and who doesn’t love trying something new?

The pork chops on the other hand tasted great but I think my vision of a thick meaty chop was slightly let down.

GLAZED PORK CHOPS

  • 1 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
  • 1 large mango, peeled and pureed
  • 4 pork chops, about 5 ounces each
  • Olive oil
  • Salt, to taste

Place vinegar, sugar and peppercorns in saucepan and reduce until thickened. Whisk in mango puree and cook 1 minute. Strain into bowl. Preheat grill. Brush pork chops with olive oil on both sides and season with salt. Grill for 5 minutes on each side for medium doneness. Remove and brush liberally with the glaze.


I feel like everything came together great and the flavors were all there but the pork chops were a little tough and that’s no fault of Bobby Flays. Since our chops were so think it took soooo much longer to cook. I wish I had baked them in the oven on a lower temperature to slowly cook thoroughly without toughening the meat. I made the mistake of frying them, which could be good but I over did it. I think overcooking is the biggest problem with pork chops and has given them a bad name.

If you don’t want to try the chops, the salsa is definitely worth making! It could be amazing on so many other dishes!