Pork recipes

[hungryhousewife Profile]

Hi Gill, he does call it cured pork - mystery solved.

Can't wait to see how it turns out Dena!
It will be really interesting to see if the 'cling film curing' process works!

How are you getting on with your new books?
HH

[Chihuahuasrule Profile]

Morning all, and thanks to Sakkarin for making all this possible.

I am intrigued by the salting process which so many of you seem to do, particularly with pork. May be I have been lucky, but I hardly ever get dry pork. Now this could be because I get all my pork from a local farm and needless to say it is not bred to be far free!!

I thought that one of the things that so many people complain about is the adding of liquid to meat to bulk it up. I do realise that different chemicals are used and I have in the past corned my own beef so this is not an unknown procedure as far as I am concerned.

Please could someone clarify this for me.

Many thanks,

JeanT

[Sakkarin Profile]

I am no expert, but I think the problem with the water that they force into chicken/bacon, is that they add chemical proteins (?) to it to hold the water in a sort of "gel", it's not the same as when you cure something, where the brine flavours/cures the fibres of the meat. Best way to illustrate that is to cook supermarket bacon. As I understand it, that disgusting gunk that comes out is the binder, not the water. Apart from being nasty, it makes the bacon/chicken impossible to cook properly.

On the pork theme, I had a big chunk of pork in the fridge (basically it is a pork chop from Tesco, but they are so hamfisted there that the "chop" is about 2 inches thick, and weighs a pound), and just happened to have been reminded on the Beeb board of a Sunflower recipe I made ages and ages ago, which was delicious: Pork with fermented beancurd and potatoes.

One time I tried to get hold of red beancurd, they had run out of it at Wing Yip, so the next time I saw it I bought several jars, and still have three left. The stew is halfway through cooking now, and smells gorgeous.

http://sunflower-recipes.blogspot.co.uk ... h-red.html

[Joanbunting Profile]

Hi Gill

Thanks from me for your efforts!

As it happens we are having pork fillet tonight. I am doing it in a bbq sauce - ex Cordon Bleu from what seems like centuries ago! Having it with fried rice and a salad.

The other option was with prunes and cognac but BIL drank all the cognac!

[Global_Worming Profile]

Morning all, and thanks to Sakkarin for making all this possible.

I am intrigued by the salting process which so many of you seem to do, particularly with pork. May be I have been lucky, but I hardly ever get dry pork. Now this could be because I get all my pork from a local farm and needless to say it is not bred to be far free!!

I thought that one of the things that so many people complain about is the adding of liquid to meat to bulk it up. I do realise that different chemicals are used and I have in the past corned my own beef so this is not an unknown procedure as far as I am concerned.

Please could someone clarify this for me.

Many thanks,

JeanT

I brine and cure a lot. My take on brine is the salt in the brine draws the liquid from in the meat or fish. Then like osmosis the the flavoured brine is sucked in.I have some brisket "corning" in the outside pantry, only seven days to go.

[Chihuahuasrule Profile]

To Sakkarin and GW,

I suspect you are both right. I absolutely hate the white gunk that comes out of some bacon and probably spend too much on the dry cure stuff.

I really must do some more corned/salt beef. I used to use sodium nitrate plus coarse salt, but the sodium nitrate is sometimes used in terrorist bombs (!!) so, I don't think it is so easy to get hold of. Having said that I notice that Amazon are selling this product. I would be interested to hear what others use, - ? potassium salt.

Cheers

JeanT

[Sakkarin Profile]

Here's my finished porky dish as mentioned in my last post!



EDIT: Piccy put back in Hungryhousewife - as Sunflower says in her blog, it doesn't look particularly appetising, but tastes fab!

[Global_Worming Profile]

To Sakkarin and GW,

I suspect you are both right. I absolutely hate the white gunk that comes out of some bacon and probably spend too much on the dry cure stuff.

I really must do some more corned/salt beef. I used to use sodium nitrate plus coarse salt, but the sodium nitrate is sometimes used in terrorist bombs (!!) so, I don't think it is so easy to get hold of. Having said that I notice that Amazon are selling this product. I would be interested to hear what others use, - ? potassium salt.

Cheers

JeanT

Chi I buy salt peter on Ebay for my salt beef brine etc.Try dry salt curing belly pork to make your own bacon. I also inject meats like turkey breast before smoking if I forget to brine, good quality bottled salad dressings are fantastic solutions for injecting.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I really must do some more corned/salt beef.

I use salt petre, make sure your source is good. I got mine from this http://www.sausagemaking.org/acatalog/Saltpetre__500_grammes.html site.

You really have to be cautious with its use though.

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Here's my finished porky dish as mentioned in my last post!

Can you post that image again, Sakkarin.
Sunflower's dish looks fantastic.

I really should cook more Chinese food.


Hi GW

good quality bottled salad dressings are fantastic solutions for injecting

That's a good idea.

[hungryhousewife Profile]

[quote="Sakkarin"] Best way to illustrate that is to cook supermarket bacon. As I understand it, that disgusting gunk that comes out is the binder, not the water. Apart from being nasty, it makes the bacon/chicken impossible to cook properly.

Morning Sakkarin
I find the Waitrose bacon never has that revolting grey scum coming out of it. It is their normal stuff both streaky and back. I love the dry cured bacon, and occasionally splurge for a little treat, but for everyday cooking we use Waitrose.

I've got to have a go at brining and I really want to make salt beef - but the only thing that has put me off so far is ordering and using salt petre - as I've never used it.
HH

[Dena Profile]

Hi HH,

This thread might interest you, (another blast from the past via Sakkarin & Gill)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/mbfood/F267047 ... #p77776277

I will be making that "salted" pork fillet for next weekend, so will see what the salting does

[hungryhousewife Profile]

Oh, that's great Dena!
The link is a bit slow at the moment, so I'll try it again later. I've been curious about salting for a while

Glad the pork was good Sakkarin!
HH