Name: Matt Abdoo's Winning Grilled pork chops
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 43 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 4 bone-in pork chops, 1.5 inches thick (about 10 oz each); 3 tbsp kosher salt; 1.5 tbsp freshly ground black pepper; 2 tbsp smoked paprika; 1 tbsp garlic powder; 1 tbsp onion powder; 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves, stripped; 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 4 tbsp unsalted butter; 6 cloves garlic, smashed; 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice; 1 tsp red pepper flakes

Matt Abdoo runs Pig Beach BBQ — four locations across Brooklyn, Queens, West Palm Beach, and Louisville, with a fifth on the way. He started in fine dining (Del Posto, twenty years ago, when Mario Batali still had Del Posto), then pivoted entirely to barbecue around 2014 because, in his words, "I wanted to cook the food I actually wanted to eat."

He beat Bobby on March 5, 2026 — the most recent confirmed defeat in this ledger as of publication — with grilled pork chops. Which is funny, because pork chops are supposedly Bobby's home turf. He grills. He has spent decades grilling. Pork chops on a grill is the closest thing the show has to a layup for him.

Abdoo brought a dry brine, a long rest, a hard sear, and a sauce built on apple butter and bourbon. Bobby brought, per the room, "a pork chop." The judges were unanimous.