Pork – Page 8 – Writing With My Mouth Full

Sweet and Sour Pork Picnic

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to eat at least one fruit a day, everyday. It’s been difficult with the small selection of fresh fruits this winter, so the sale of canned pineapple chunks at my local grocery store caught my eye. I rarely buy anything canned, but three cans of pineapple for $2 seemed like a good deal to me. I thought of making a sweet and sour sauce with the pork picnic, or lower part of the shoulder, I picked up from Chinatown. Slivers of pork belly would be a good substitute, but I opted for the meatier part of the pig here. A melee of colorful vegetables made this the perfect Sunday lunch with family.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound of pork picnic, trimmed of fat and excess skin, chopped
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, julienned
a handful of string beans
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
1 red onion, thinly slice
2 cloves of garlic, minced
a small bunch of chives, chopped
a dash of sesame seeds, toasted
salt, oil

For the sweet and sour sauce:
1 can of pineapple chunks, drained
3 tbsps sugar
a jigger of red wine vinegar
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced

1. In a small pot, combine all the sweet and sour ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes while occasionally stirring to avoid sticking.
2. In a large wok, heat some oil and cook pork pieces until evenly browned.
3. Add green beans and stir-fry for 8 minutes or until tender. Add the rest of the vegetables and stir-fry for 5 minutes.
4. Pour in the sweet and sour sauce and toss. Season with salt to taste. Sprinkle with chives and sesame seeds before serving.

Pig’s Ears Salad

The new year has just begun and I already have a favorite cookbook: StÃ©phane Reynaud’s Pork & Sons from Phaidon. I immediately wanted it when I saw JosÃ© Reis de Matos’ pig illustrations and Carlotta’s hand-written curly titles bounded in baby pink and white gingham checks, but I held off from buying yet another cookbook. In Austin’s Bookpeople, it was sold at a discounted price; I finally walked away with it.

The front page has “for the love of sausages” written on it and there are drawings of pigs in hammocks, on bicycles, wading in mud and even pole dancing on the cover of a chapter called “A Piggy Party”. This book was made for me! If not to make your own sausages or cook this pig’s ears salad from page 186, just buy it to squeal–pun intended–at the illustrations.

As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew how it was going to taste and feel in my mouth. The pig’s ears will be gelatinous and the cartilage crunchy; the ginger and the shallots adding a kick while the spinach tames everything down. I loved the pig’s ears appetizer at El Quinto Pino and I could imagine this being served there as well. I would even try this with some flat parsley leaves or spicy arugula if I don’t have spinach handy. It’s good with a glass of white wine, but even better with cold beer.

Ingredients:
3 pig’s ears, thoroughly washed
half a bunch of baby spinach
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 small knob of ginger, peeled, julienned
a handful of fresh chives, chopped
a few jiggers of red wine vinegar
salt, oil

1. Cook the pig’s ears in boiling water for 1 hour. Drain and let cool.
2. In the meantime, combine the shallots, ginger, chives and some canola oil in a bowl.
3. When the pig’s ears are cool enough to handle, slice thinly.
4. Heat some frying oil in a skillet and cook the ears until golden brown, while stirring occasionally using a wooden spoon to scrape off the gelatinous stuff that sticks to the bottom of the pan. Splash with the red wine vinegar and cook for 2 more minutes.
5. Remove to a plate lined with paper towel to drain the oil a little bit, and then transfer to the bowl with the spinach and shallot mixture. Toss and season with salt.

Gyoza, Homemade Dumplings

We were at Sona’s apartment earlier this year for a pot luck party to congratulate two friends who ran the marathon and we all contributed to making the gyoza, or dumplings. My Japanese friends make them frequently at home and they were sealing them as fast as I can say “dumpling”. I was slower and mine came out a little askew, but at least they didn’t fall apart when cooking.

Americans call them pot stickers because, well, they stick to the bottom of the pot when you fry them. Koreans call them mandu and include them in a soup using clear broth, or mandu gook. You can substitute the pork filling with ground chicken or shrimp, but the rest of the ingredients are non-negotiable if you want to make gyoza, Japanese-style. You can go to YouTube and search for the many how-to-make-dumpling videos available. They key is frying them on one side and cooking them thoroughly by adding a little water to the pan and steaming them. Open up a bottle of Sapporo and you’re set for the rest of the afternoon.

Ingredients:
1 package of gyoza skins
1/2 pound of ground pork
a small wedge of cabbage, roughly chopped
1 bunch of scallions, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
a knob of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsps peanut oil

1. Make the filling by combining all the ingredients except for the skins in a large bowl.
2. To prepare the dumplings, you’ll need a small bowl of water to seal the dumplings and a wet paper towel to cover the gyoza skins to keep them from drying out. Using a teaspoon, spoon the filling in the middle of the skin. Dab one edge of the skin with water and fold the skin over in half and pinch in the middle. To seal the sides, ruche and pinch to make pleats. (There goes my fashion education.)
3. Steam-fry the dumplings. Heat up the peanut oil in a deep frying pan. Add the dumplings one side down and fry for 3 minutes. Lower the heat and add 1/4-cup of water. Cover to steam the dumplings for about 8 minutes, or until most of the water has evaporated. Remove using a heat-resistant spatula to a plate lined with paper towel. Dip in soy sauce and vinegar mixture.

Pork Chops with Honey and Anise

The day after I came back from Tunisia, I had bacon for breakfast, pork barbecue for lunch and was craving pork chops for dinner. We didn’t participate in Ramadan while we were there, but not having pork for two weeks was difficult enough. You simply can’t take the pork away from the Filipino.

When pork chops look firm and fresh at the butcher’s, I can’t help but pick them up. Add some honey for a little bit of sweet, sticky taste, and a little oyster sauce to make them salty, and they evoke autumn–in that Chinese sort of way. I scraped the leftover bits of marinade from the pan and tossed a bunch of boiled baby bok choy with it to make a vegetable side dish.

Ingredients:
4 pork chops
about 8 tbsps honey
4 whole star anise
3 tbsps oyster sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
dried chili flakes
black peppercorns
salt

1. Make marinade. Whisk together the honey and the oyster sauce in a small bowl. Add anise, garlic, peppercorns and chili flakes. Season with some salt. Using a spatula, rub the marinade onto the pork chops on both sides. Set aside for at least an hour or refrigerate overnight.
2. When ready to cook, preheat the oven 350Âº. Bake for about twelve minutes per side. The marinade burns easily, so check on the chops often to make sure that you do not overcook the meat.

Baby Back Ribs Adobo

In Memories of Philippine Kitchens, Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan say that if you have to master a Filipino recipe, it has to be adobo. Adobo in Spanish-speaking countries refers to the oil, garlic and vinegar flavor. Each country has added its own touch to it, whether they be black peppercorns, marjoram or bay leaves, but if you ask a non-Filipino about a Filipino food they’ve tried and liked, adobo is most likely their answer.

It’s hard to get my father to teach me how he cooks his own version, since he cooks by tasting the dish until it’s just right. When Dexter and Jaime gave me a copy of the new book from the Cendrillon founders, I tried their baby back ribs recipe. I’ve cooked adobo before, but I have to say that they got it right in terms of measurements–all I had to do was double everything to feed four people a couple of servings apiece. I’m going to use this recipe as my own from now on.

Ingredients:
3 racks of baby back ribs, about 4 pounds
2 cups white vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
8 garlic cloves, minced
6 bay leaves
2 tsps black peppercorns
1 tsp red chili flakes
2 tsps rock salt

1. Using a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and the peppercorns until they are coarsely grounded. Rub the ribs with salt, and then with the garlic and peppercorns mixture.
2. In a Dutch oven, mix vinegar, soy sauce, chili flakes and bay leaves using a wooden spoon. Add the ribs and marinate overnight, turning the ribs at least once so that the other side also gets some of the flavor.
3. When ready to cook, put Dutch oven over medium fire, uncovered, and let boil. Then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour to cook the ribs. Remove ribs to a baking dish when done. Reduce the sauce by increasing the heat and cooking it, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the sauce has somewhat thickened.
4. Broil the ribs for about 8 minutes, enough to give the top part a crust. Transfer to a plate and pour over the reduced sauce. Serve with steaming white rice.