Pickled Roast Pork – Heaven on a plate!
Posted on November 18, 2013 by nerinatimm in pork
Pickled roast pork somehow does not sound right! I mean really, pickled beets and pickled cucumber, but pork? Pickled?
Pickled pork is what it said on the label of this hunk of pork I spotted in the meat section in Checkers. I was intrigued and just had to try it. The meat is slightly drier than a belly pork, there was just a thin layer of fat on top, but the rest of the meat was fairly lean! On the label was a cooking method and it was pretty much the same as cured beef. The meat cooks in water or broth spiced with star anise, cloves, pepper corn, Szechuan pepper, coriander and all sorts of other flavors, hence the name pickled pork!
Of course no recipe will ever go un-tweaked in this kitchen, so I added my own twist. A Chinese twist, just see the list of ingredients and you will know what I mean! The whole idea of pickling food is an age-old way of preserving food and for more than 4000 years, people have been using this way of prolonging the shelf life of their food. Most probably the first people to pickle food, was the Indians and they used cucumbers, today known as achar. Pickled fish is an Easter tradition here in the Cape and even in my house Easter would not be complete without the most memorable meal of pickled or curry fish and brown bread.
I suppose pickling meat is slightly different and we might know it as curing or cured meat and cured beef is again a Christmas tradition in my family! So whether the label on the meat referred to the pickling spices or the method of cooking, I am not sure, but the label caught my attention and I made the most divine supper with my pickled pork roast!
Pickled Pork Roast
serves 4
Ingredients
800 g pork sirloin or belly
1 liter cold water
10 ml black pepper corns
5 ml Szechuan pepper
10 ml coriander seeds
3 bay leaves
2 star anise
1 x 10cm piece ginger
zest or 1 lemon
100 ml soy sauce
10 ml fish sauce
100 ml honey
about 15 – 20 cloves
Method
Remove the pork from the plastic bag and rinse. Place the pork in a large pot and add all the other ingredients, EXCEPT the honey. Bring the liquid to the boil and reduce the heat. Allow the pork to simmer in the pot for at least 1 – 11/2 hours. The pork must be soft but not falling apart. Remove the pork from the liquid and keep in a bowl. Place the cloves in the fat layer. Place the pot back on the stove and cook the sauce and reduce to about 1/3. Put the meat back into the pot and cook the sauce and pork further, spooning some of the sauce over the pork every now and then. Just before the serving, add the honey to taste and allow to cook until sticky. Serve with sticky rice and a cucumber pickle!
11 Responses to “Pickled Roast Pork – Heaven on a plate!”
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October 9, 2014
[…] Pickled roast pork somehow does not sound right! I mean really, pickled beets and pickled cucumber, but pork? Pickled? Pickled pork is what it said on the label of this hunk of pork I spotted in the meat section in Checkers. I was intrigued and just had to try it. Read More… […]
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November 2, 2014
[…] Pickled Roast Pork – Heaven on a plate! – My Easy Cooking – … but the label caught my attention and I made the most divine supper with my pickled pork roast! Pickled Pork Roast. serves 4. Ingredients. 800 g pork sirloin or belly. … Tags: Chinese Cooking, easy cooking, nina timm, pickled, pickling, pork recipes. […]
This pickled roast pork looks mouth-wateringly delicious!
This sounds incredibly delicious! Defs on my list for the weekend. Your reference to pickled fish made me think of the snoek in my freezer, any suggestions? My recipes all seem too sour?
thanks
Very easy I’ve tried it and went off very goooood!!!!! Thanx you guys xxx
Delicious
Thank you for visiting and the compliment!
I want to know if I can freeze pickeld pork please
Hello Estelle, thank you for your comment. Yes, I think you can freeze it!
Definitely. Have used pickled pork for many years and purchased when on special then frozen for future use. Cant give you an exact freezer life but we have used ours up to about 3 months after freezing and it does not lose anything. We just put it into the fridge 24hrs or so before we use it so its not fully defrosted and roasted, sow cooked or done in a pot of spiced water its lovely.
Thank you Chris for the response. This is the wonder of cooking in virtual kitchens, how we are able to assist each other from afar!