Tag Archives: pork

Cooking

Carnitas

After making cha siu and a Taiwanese-style pork roast, I was looking for other regional preparations of pork butt/shoulder (apparently butts and shoulders are interchangeable in pigs). I thought carnitas would be overly ambitious, but of course Kenji pulls through with a non-slow cooker non-pork lard soaked recipe.

Carnitas

  • Cut 3 lbs boneless pork butt with rind removed into 2-inch cubes. Season with 1 tbsp salt. Arrange in 9×13 baking dish with no spaces.
  • Quarter 1 medium orange. Squeeze over juices. Add orange pieces, 2 quarters of a medium onion, 4 cloves garlic halved, 2 bay leaves, 1 cinnamon stick broken up. Pour over 1/4 cup oil.
  • Bake tightly covered with foil at 275 F for 3.5 hours, until fork-tender.
  • Remove other solids. Strain out liquids, which should result in 1/2 cup liquid and 1/2 cup fat. Shred pork with forks. Season with more salt. Optionally add some fat back to pork.
  • Roast under broiler for 6 minutes to develop crispy edges. Rearrange and roast again for 6 minutes.
  • Serve with salsa, 1 onion finely diced, 1/2 cup cilantro chopped, limes, crumbled cheese, on corn tortillas.
Cooking

Pork

Here are some pork recipes.

I was looking for a stable recipe that I could cook basically anytime without worrying about fresh herbs and spices. This worked well. 

Chinese-style Braised Pork

  • Brown 3-lb pork shoulder. Transfer to baking dish.
  • Saute 4 cloves garlic sliced, 2” ginger sliced, 3 small chilis sliced.
  • Mix 1 tsp five spice, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 3 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 cup water. Pour over.
  • Bake covered at 300 F for 1.5-2 hours until very tender. Turn once. Serve with juices.

As written back in February: I saw a pork loin roast for $3.99/lb at TJ’s and thought it’d be a good idea to buy it. Then, when attempting to cook it, I realized I needed spices, so I went back to TJ’s for some fresh rosemary.

Pork Loin Roast

  • Combine 3 cloves garlic crushed, 1 tbsp (dried) rosemary, a good amount of salt, some pepper. Mix in 2 tbsp olive oil.
  • Take a 2.5-lb pork loin, poke holes with a knife. Brush with marinade.
  • Roast at 350 F for about an hour in 1/2 cup white wine. Start fat side down, occasionally basting in juices, Add some water, and flip.
  • Served sliced, with juices poured over.

Carnitas

See carnitas post.

 Cha Siu

See cha siu post.

Cooking

Cha Siu

I go out of my way in Chinatown to buy cha siu because it was a dish that I never dreamt of cooking. However, when I bought a pork shoulder on a whim and subsequently frantically looked up ways to cook it Chinese-style, cha siu came up. I didn’t even realize that was the cut used! Next time, I will be sure to buy the fattiest cut available.

Shoutouts to thewoksoflife.com, with consistently good Chinese and Taiwanese recipes, and invaluable advice on how to emulate industrial cooking equipment in the home kitchen.

 

Cha Siu (Cantonese BBQ Pork)

sliced: lean cut. back: fatty cut.
  • 3 lb pork shoulder/butt, very fatty, cut obliquely into flat 1”-thick strips. Marinate in bag overnight.
  • Barbecue sauce: 2 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp five spice, 1 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp white pepper, 1 tbsp plum wine (or rice wine), 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 2 tsp hoisin sauce, 2 tsp tomato paste, 2 tsp molasses (or 3 tsp honey), 1 tbsp oil, 3 cloves garlic minced, 1 tbsp hot water.
  • Prepare baking tray, lined with foil, with wire rack atop. Place pork on top, reserving marinade for basting.
  • Roast in upper rack of oven at 475+ F for 25 min. Flip, brush with sauce (important), then roast for 25 min more. Rest for 5 min.
Cooking

Tonkatsu

A true sign I’m turning into a true American home cook: I’m deep frying!! Except I’m making Japanese pork loin. lol

If I’m making Japanese food, without fail I consult justonecookbook.com. She writes detailed precise recipes, includes invaluable tips, and takes beautiful photos. I think I used smaller panko crumbs so the breading came out flatter, but the color was great and the pork was so tasty.

Tonkatsu

  • 4 pork loin chops, boneless, about 1/2” thick. Cut off extra fat and slit connective tissue, pound to tenderize, season with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.
  • Dredge in 1/2 cup flour (1/4 cup might be enough), knock off excess flour. Dip in 2 eggs + 1 tbsp oil. Dredge in 1 cup panko, pressing in crumbs.
  • In oil at 350 F (if panko crumb immediately floats), without crowding, fry for 1 minute each side. Rest standing up for 4 minutes, letting excess oil drip off.
  • Fry for 30 seconds each side. Rest for 2 minutes.
  • Cut into strips by cutting straight down, not sawing.
  • Serve with tonkatsu sauce or curry on raw shredded cabbage with rice.

 

Cooking

Sticky Rice

This is a dish passed on from my grandma to my mom to me. It’s a simple comfort food and the first decent dish that I learned how to make. As such, I have no idea how much of each ingredient I actually use, haha.

Taiwanese Sticky Rice

  • Reconstitute 4-5 dried shiitake mushroom, then slice. Soak ~2 tbsp small dried shrimp.
  • 1 pork tenderloin, sliced to small strips. Marinate briefly in soy sauce, cooking wine.
  • 4 cups sticky rice. Wash until water nearly clear, almost drain, add about 4.5 cups more water.
  • In wok with generous oil, saute mushrooms and shrimp. When fragrant, brown pork. Time saute so pork and rice finish at the same time.
  • Add half of rice, then ~2 tbsp dried shallots, some pepper. Pour in soy sauce until rice is quite dark. Stir.
  • Add rest of rice. Stir a little. Top with scallions.
Cooking

Vietnamese Pork Chops and Pickles

I got a cast iron skillet. It sears meat well. 

Pork chops from this resource, but with sugar cut down.

Viet Pork Chop

  • 2 pork chops, thick cut, bone in. Score sides, pierce all over with fork
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp light brown sugar, 1 small shallot minced, 1/2 tsp pepper
  • Marinate 20 min room-temp or overnight in fridge
  • Scrape off excess marinade and boil 4 minute to make sauce
  • Cook pork in oil about 4 minutes per side. Rest 10 minutes.

Daikon is easy to julienne (cut into matchstick-size strips). Carrots? Non-trivial.

Pickled Carrots and Daikon

  • ½ lb carrots, ½ lb daikon julienned
  • 3 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp salt, ⅓ cup (rice or white) vinegar, 4 cups warm water
  • Pickle for 3 days in fridge.