June in Denmark is a dare. The sun stays up past ten, the air smells like cut grass and warm stone, and every garden, balcony, and patch of shared courtyard becomes a kitchen. This is when the grill comes out. Not the elaborate setup you might imagine, just a simple charcoal grill, a bag of briquettes, and nakkekoteletter.

Pork neck chops are the weeknight grill cut in Denmark. They're thick, marbled with fat that renders slowly over the coals, and almost impossible to ruin if you understand one thing: the fat is not a problem, it's the whole point. That white marbling melts as the chop cooks, basting the meat from the inside, keeping it juicy even if you leave it on the grill a minute too long. This is a forgiving cut, and it rewards you for trusting it.

The preparation is simple. A quick marinade of rapeseed oil, garlic, and coarse salt, then heat. What matters is the grill itself: hot enough to sear the surface and render the fat, not so hot that the outside chars before the inside is done. I'll walk you through exactly how to read the heat and when to turn. You'll know when it's right. The smell alone will tell you.