Tag Archives: pork

I love pork. You should <3

Braised Short Rib with Panang at Lotus of Siam RestaurantToday's installment of pork = awesome features hoisin braised country style ribs. Country style ribs aren't really ribs at all, rather these delicious morsels are cut from the rib end of the shoulder and usually contain a bone or two. Slow cooking country style ribs breaks down the fat and connective tissue which creates a tender, juicy, and delicious final product. You'll need the following:

3lbs bone in country style ribs
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/4 soy sauce
1 tablespoon grated ginger (you can substitute 1 tsp powder ginger)
2 cloves garlic smashed

Method: Put ribs into your crock pot. Cover with onion slices. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl and pour over ribs / onions.

Cover and cook on low for 8ish hours (you're looking for the ribs to be tender, the bone will probably fall out and the meat will be falling apart). Really, that's it. A few minutes in the morning and by the time you're home from work dinner is waiting.

Remove ribs from the crock pot and keep them warm. De-fat the pan juice and pour over the ribs, garnish with chopped cilantro.

I add some sliced peppers to the mix, jalapeno, poblano, anaheim, whatever I have around to Bam! it up a notch. I've accidentally omitted the rice vinegar from this dish and haven't noticed a marked decrease in deliciousness. A couple teaspoons of sesame oil will also add a bit of je ne sais quoi to this dish.

 

 

I love pork. You should two.

Best Breakfast in New MexicoCarne Adovada, pork marinated in red chili, is one of my all time favorite dishes. You can eat it topped with a fried egg for breakfast (or dinner for that matter), in a burrito, on corn tortillas, smothered in cheese with a side of sour cream, or, my personal favorite, stuffed into a sopapilla and drowning in red chili sauce. If you ever find yourself in Albuquerque I would recommend stopping by the Frontier restaurant for breakfast (order the number one with carne adovada) and then have dinner at el Patio (get yourself a stuffed sopa with red). This is not a dish for the faint of heart, but it doesn't have to burn you on both ends either. There are a ton of variations on making adovada that range from mostly canned to the totally-labor-intensive-but absolutely-worth-the-work version. After the jump I'll spell out a couple of fairly easy ways to make this delicious dinner or breakfast if that's what sets your hair on fire.

Continue reading I love pork. You should two.

I love pork. You should too. Sesame Pork Roast

Pork and Cider Sauce

This sesame pork roast is a family favorite at Casa de Carne for the left overs more than for the actual meal. I've made this so many times that I have lost the original recipe, but here is the most recent version:

Ingredients for the marinade

2 1 cups soy sauce (I use low sodium, I've found over the years that using low sodium soy sauce for marinades helps cut down on the salty bite, leaving all the other flavors to do their work_
3/4 to 1 tbsp dark sesame oil (or the hot pepper version if spice is your thing) (this is also a to taste kind of ingredient, more can sometimes equal too much of a good thing)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 inch piece of fresh ginger root grated finely (ginger powder in a pinch, to taste)
dash of red chili powder
dash of red chili flakes
splash of lime or lemon juice
pinch of brown sugar (up to 2 tsp if you're using full strength soy sauce, helps cut down on the bite)

Combine all ingredients in a gallon zip lock bag and slosh them around to mix

I usually go for a center cut of pork tenderloin, but any meaty tenderloin cut will do here. Trim most the fat from the meat, but leave a little on for self basting purposes. Toss the meat into the marinade and let it soak overnight.

While the oven is heating remove the meat from the marinade and discard the liquid. Pat the roast dry with a couple paper towels and toss it into the oven. I keep a digital meat thermometer in the roast, and when the temperature hits about 135 I take the roast out of the oven and glaze it with a mixture of equal parts honey and brown sugar. I've found that coating the whole roast in sesame seeds after glazing helps keep the honey stuck to the outside of the meat, and not burning to the bottom of your roasting pan. Throw the whole works back into the oven 'til the thermometer reads 160 (or your preferred doneness level), remove the roast and let rest under a foil tent for at least 5 minutes, 10 if you can be patient, and then carve it up in thin slices. The preparation method is almost fool proof, but be warned, the glaze can burn pretty quickly and can be a bear to clean off your pan. As an alternate cooking method, I've had great success with this roast on the grill (with some apple wood chips added, the smoke marries perfectly with the salty and spicy marinade.... stoopid burn ban).

After eating this meal I dream about the roast pork sandwiches, spicy goat cheese and pork pizza with grilled onions and roasted poblano, and stir fry with a hoisin / chili sauce that will be made the next day or so.