Tag: pork
Braised Pork Shanks with Black Beans
Braised Pork Shanks with Black Beans
Shanks from any animal are one of my favorite cuts. The shank is between the knee and ankle. Regardless of what animal you are using, shanks need to be braised for a long period of time in order to become tender. Other than the meat being extremely tender and flavorful, my favorite part of shanks is the bone marrow from inside the shin bone. Suck out that meat jelly goodness.This just so happens to be one of the easiest and least expensive recipes on stonedsoup.net. Pork shanks at my local Asian market cost $1.79lb; costing me $4 just for all of this meat. The can of black beans cost less than $1. I always have on hand in abundance all of the other ingredients. So this entire meal that is enough for 4 large servings cost around $6 to make. You can’t eat out a meal of this quality for at price.One pot meals by one pothead.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2-2 1/2 lbs pork shanks
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp sichuan peppercorns
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 green onion cut into 3rds
- 2” ginger cut in half
- 1/4 tsp five spice powder
- 4 cups water
- 4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 can black beans plus all of the liquid
Instructions
- Place Sichuan peppercorns, coriander seeds, and star anise in the middle of a 6”x6” piece of cheese cloth.
- Fold it over like so.
- Tie it into a knot. This is also a great way to wrap up a bud if you don’t have baggies or a flour tortilla.
- Heat up cooking oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add in the pork shanks. Sear on both sides for 3-4 minutes.
- Pour in the water along with the garlic, ginger, green onion, cinnamon stick, five spice powder, and the cheese cloth spice sack. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes.
- Add in th soy sauces and palm sugar. Cover. Turn heat up to medium high. Simmer for an hour.
- Add in a can of black beans with it’s liquid. Cover and continue to simmer on medium high heat for another hour.
- The liquid at this point should’ve reduced by more than half. If there is more liquid in the pot then that, uncover and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
BBQ Pork Rice Noodle Salad
BBQ Pork Rice Noodle Salad
There is a lot of food prep in making this Vietnamese rice noodle salad; but it pays off in the end. You will see this on just about every Vietnamese menu, served with various forms of protein. My absolute favorite is char siu bbq roast pork. You can use lemongrass marinated grilled pork or chicken, meatballs, and shrimp as well. I just recently ate this at my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, IPho by Saigon. I ordered their special and almost couldn’t finish it, it was so big. That’s saying something. It was topped with 2 types of pork, chicken, and shrimp. It was so good that I had to learn how to make it. 5 days later…
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 bunch green leaf lettuce chopped
- 8 oz rice vermicelli noodles prepare according to package
- 2 cup bean sprouts
- 1 cucumber seeded, cut into long strips
- 1 cup pickled carrots and daikon
- 1 cup fresh mint
- 2 green onions chopped
- 1/2 cup peanuts crushed
- 1/2 cup cilantro
- 1 1/2 lb bbq pork
Dressing
- 6 tbsp water
- 4 tbsp vinegar
- 4 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 3 garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 2 thai chilies thinly sliced
Instructions
- Mix all of the sauce ingredients together in a small pot. Bring to a simmer. Make sure all of the sugar is dissolved. Take off the heat and let cool.
- Assembly: Place a good handful of the leaf lettuce in the bottom of a bowl. Place about 1 cup of the rice noodles on top of the lettuce. Then arrange the ingredients around the perimeter of the bowl, with the peanuts in the middle. Pour the dressing over the top. This recipe makes 4 large servings.
Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)
If I was put on death row and asked what the last thing on Earth that I'd like to eat, my final meal, char siu would be on the top of the list. I have loved this bbq pork ever since I was a little kid. My family would order everything with bbq pork in it from the Chinese restaurant that we got take out from. I love this pork so much, I snuck some of the pork in the picture into the movie theatre in a ziplock bag.Char siu is typically made out of pork shoulder. It can be made out of pork sirloin, pork loin, or tenderloin; but they tend to be less juicy than pork shoulder. Fat is a good thing here. You will want a 3lbs. piece of boneless pork shoulder. I purchased a whole bone in shoulder and processed out the coppa roast and the flat iron, If the coppa roast was a beef cut, you'd know it as a chuck eye roast. You don't have to go to this extreme. You can use any part of the shoulder. I just happen to know how to cut these muscles out of the shoulder and use them. Cut the pork shoulder into 2" in diameter chunks with the grain. The char siu gets its color from the red bean curd. If you've ever seen this pork really red, the color will be coming from red food coloring. But I want to avoid food coloring as much as possible. The red color in the bean curd comes from a natural fungus. This pork needs to marinate for at least 3 days.When ready to cook the pork, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Yes, 400 degrees. Normally when you think of cooking pork shoulder, you cook it low and slow. Not here. It will be tender. Trust me. I was skeptical the first time I tried making this. Roast this for 15 minutes. Pull it out of the oven and brush on the glaze. Roast for 7 minutes. You want to do this for 3 times total. The honey will caramelize the outside while the bean curd juice will give it a nice red color. Once done roasting, let sit for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boneless pork shoulder
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 tbsp hoisin sauce
- 3 red bean curd cubes + 2 tbsp liquid
- 1 1/2 tbsp Chinese 5 spice powder
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
- 3/4 tsp white pepper
- 1 1/2 tsp sesame oil
- 3 garlic cloves minced
Pork Glaze
- 3 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp red bean curd liquid
- 1 tbsp cooked marinade
Instructions
- Take a 3lb. piece of pork shoulder and cut it into a few long chunks with the grain. Each piece should be around 2″ in diameter. In this picture, I cut out the coppa roast and the flat iron. The coppa roast is the center muscle of the shoulder. If this was beef, you’d know it as a chuck eye roast.
- Mix together the soy sauce, hoisin sauce, red bean curd cubes and liquid, 5 spice powder, honey, cooking, wine, white pepper, sesame, oil, and garlic cloves. Mash the bean curds into a paste. Mix everything thoroughly.
- Add the pork shoulder pieces and the marinade to a gallon sized ziplock bag. Marinate for 72 hours. Turn the bag over every 12 hours.
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Lay the pork shoulder pieces on a rack onto of a foil covered baking sheet. Add a couple cups of water to the baking sheet to prevent smoking. Roast the pork for 15 minutes.
- While the pork is roasting, mix together honey, red bean curd liquid, and some of the marinade. Make sure to cook the marinade in the microwave for a few seconds before mixing in. Now you have your pork glaze.
- After the first 15 minutes of roasting, take the pork out of the oven and brush on the pork glaze. Don’t worry about getting the bottom. Put the pork back in the oven and roast for 7 minutes. Repeat this step 2 more times, for a total of 3 glazes.
- After the final glazing and roasting, let the pork rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Pickled Carrots and Daikon
These pickled carrots and daikon are used as a topping for banh mi sandwiches. Sweet and vinegary with a nice crunch. These are good in your refrigerator for up to a month.
Ingredients
- 6 oz carrots cut into large matchstick sized pieces
- 6 oz daikon cut into large matchstick sized pieces
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 6 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Cut your carrots and daikon into large matchstick sized pieces.
- Place them in a bowl with 2 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp salt. Let sit for 5 minutes. Liquid will start to pool at the bottom. Rinse in cold water and pat dry.
- Mix together the water, vinegar, salt, and sugar until dissolved.
- Place the carrots and Daikon in a mason jar. Pour in the brine. Let pickle for a day before use.
Stir Fried Shishito Peppers
Stir Fried Shishito Peppers
I was just introduced to these peppers a couple of weeks ago. Shishito peppers are indigenous to East Asia. They are typically used in stir fry, stews, and can be grilled or eaten raw. What is unique about the peppers is that 1 out of every 10 is spicy. But not really that spicy. They have a taste similar to a green pepper, but kind of remind of a green bean or sugar snap pea. The ones that I just purchased were grown in Mexico.This stir fry is really simple and takes only 10 minutes to make. You leaves the stems on if you’d like and pull them off while eating or take them off before cooking like I did. I happened to have a small chunk of leftover pork loin; so I diced it up and added it to this dish. Bacon or shrimp would be great protein substitutes. Omit the protein to make this side dish vegan.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 16 oz Shishito peppers stems removed
- 4 oz pork loin julienned
- 2 shallots diced
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
- cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Heat cooking oil in a large sauté pan or wok over medium high heat. Add in the peppers, pork, shallots, garlic, and salt. Sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add in the soy sauce. Cook for 4 minutes.
- Stir in the sesame oil and sesame seeds. Cook for 1 minute, then turn off the heat. Crack black pepper to you taste.
