Grilled Pork Pops

More About This Recipe

• It’s summertime, and for me that means lots of outdoor parties!
  
  Because I like to be outside as much as possible during these months, I’m always on the hunt for fun and creative finger foods that I can quickly toss on the grill and serve to guests.
  
  Recently, I discovered about 100 ice pop sticks in one of my bottomless kitchen drawers and I figured they would work just like skewers. It turns out they work even better!
  
  Ice pop sticks are a bit sturdier, so they don’t burn as easily and can support more food.
  
  Plus, it’s fun to tell people that you’re making Grilled Pork Pops!
  
  These guys are really tasty and only take a few minutes to whip up. I like to use pork for them because it’s really flavorful, but you could use beef if you wanted.
  
  You really just need a few things to make these happen.
  
  One of the ingredients I like to put in these is fish sauce. If you aren’t familiar with it, it’s kind of a strange ingredient. On its own it has a completely overpowering smell. But when it’s mixed with something like pork, it gives it a really savory, delicious flavor.
  
  Hard to explain, but just trust me on it.
  
  The other ingredient that you might not be used to is rice flour. It’s literally just ground up rice. You can use normal flour if you can’t find rice flour.
  
  While you are prepping your pork pops, be sure to soak your sticks. They are thicker than skewers but it still helps to give them a soak in hot water.
  
  I also whipped up a quick dipping sauce, which was basically the same things I put in the pork plus some chili garlic sauce and a bit of water to thin it out some.
  
  When you’re ready to make the pork pops, make a long disc with about 1½ to 2 ounces of pork mixture. Then insert a stick in one end and lightly shape the pork around the stick.
  
  You should get around 10-12 pork pops out of one pound of ground pork.
  
  You could make these in advance without a problem. When you’re ready to grill them, just crank your grill up to high and toss them on!
  
  You shouldn’t have to worry about them sticking because of the fat in the pork.
  
  They’ll need to cook for about 3-4 minutes per side.
  
  You should end up with some really nice grill marks because the brown sugar will caramelize a bit.
  
  Once these come off the grill you can eat them right away!
  
  If you don’t have access to a grill, I think you could also do these under the broiler. Just keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn.
  
  Nick wants to know how many pork pops can your Papa pop if your Papa popped pork pops? Say that ten times fast, then check out his blog Macheesmo and his Tablespoon profile!