Braaied Spice Rubbed Pork Fillets with Chilli Peach Braai Sauce

It might be winter here now, but we never put our Weber away; it's used all year round. 

Pork fillet is a wonderful cut of pork to cook on the braai, especially done with a great sauce or spicy rub. 

The rub used for this grilled pork fillet is not a dry rub, but a paste in texture. It's robust in its combination of flavours, and goes well with a braai sauce such as a chilli-peach sauce with a sweet and spicy bite. 

Ingredients:
2 pork fillets

For the rub paste :
2.5ml chilli powder

2.5m mustard powder

2.5ml paprika

2.5ml cocoa powder
5ml salt

5ml onion powder
7.5ml garlic powder
5ml oregano

5ml chopped dried chillies
5-10ml lime or lemon juice
10ml olive oil
15ml brown sugar
a few turns of black pepper

Method:

Place all of the rub ingredients into a small mixing bowl. Mix to form the paste.

Rub on all sides of the pork fillet, then cover with plastic wrap, and place into the refrigerator. Marinate the fillet in the rub for at least 4-6 hours or overnight.

Remove from the fridge around 20 minutes prior to grilling to allow the meat to warm to room temperature. Seer the fillet over the hot coals of a prepared braai fire for 2 minutes on all 4 sides. Continue to cook on the widest sides for 6-8 minutes depending on the thickness of your fillet. 

Adjust the cooking time based on how thick the fillets are that you're cooking. The fillets pictured were approximately 6-7cm at their thickest. The general recommendation is to cook whole pork [not mince] to an internal temperature of at least 63-64°C. 

Brush on the grilling sauce during the last few minutes of cooking to char slightly.

Rest loosely covered with aluminium foil for about 5 minutes before carving. Serve with chilli-peach braai sauce or your favourite sauce.

Yield: 6-8 servings

Chilli Peach Braai Sauce

Ingredients:
1 medium sweet onion, diced
60g butter
4 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
1 large peach, peeled and diced
1 x 410g tomato purée
325ml peach nectar
1 x 175g can tomato paste
180ml molasses
125ml apple cider vinegar
125ml brown sugar
30ml Dijon mustard
30ml honey
3 red chillies, roughly chopped
5ml white pepper
5ml sea salt
5ml ground cumin
2.5ml powdered pickling chilli mix
2.5ml cayenne pepper

2.5ml paprika
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:
In a medium size stove top saucepan, heat the butter together with the onions over medium-high heat. Cook until the onions are translucent. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Next, add the garlic and diced peach. Continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes to cook the garlic.

Lower the heat and add the peach nectar, tomato purée, tomato paste, molasses, honey, Dijon mustard, red chillies, brown sugar and all of the spices and seasoning. Stir well and bring to a boil.

Lower the heat and simmer for 1 hour to allow the sauce to thicken and reduce.

Using a stick blender, purée until smooth. If you don't have a stick blender, puréeing the sauce can be done in a liquidiser.

Use immediately or store tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. 

Yield: approximately 4 cups.