Category Pork

SousVide Pulled Pork


SOUSVIDE PULLED PORK 

This tasted every bit as good as it sounds. Being a HCH dinner party I had to impress of course and as you can see below it pulled apart too easily. Combining this with some slaw, caramelised onions and steamed buns (that my dear friend Dre made bless her they added to the dish) with spiced infused apple sauce or a killer smokey BBQ bourbon sauce, it was so damn good. As I know a lot of you guys don’t have SousVides I will also give you a method equivalent for the oven or slow cooker.

IMG_8202

 Ingredients

For the Pork
– 1 Kg of Pork Shoulder
– 2 Cups of Stock (Pork or Chicken)
– 1 Tbsp of Peppercorns
– 1 Tbsp of Coriander Seeds
– 1 Tsp of Fennel Seeds
For the Caramelised Onions
– 3 Onions, Sliced
– ¼ Cup Balsamic Vinegar
– 2 Tbsp Brown Sugar
For the Slaw
– ¼ Head of Red Cabbage
– ¼ Head of Green Cabbage
– ½ Bulb of Fennel
– 2 Carrots, Grated
– Kewpie (Japanese Mayonnaise)
– Juice of ½ a Lemon
For the Apple Sauce
– Store Bought Apple Sauce
– 3 Star Anise
– 1 Cinnamon Quill
– 10 Peppercorns
For the Bourbon Sauce
– 2 Cups Tomato Sauce
– 1 Cup Bourbon Whiskey
– ½ cup brown sugar
– ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
– 3 Tbsp Chopped Garlic
– 2 Tbsp Liquid Smoke
– 2 Tbsp Worcester Sauce
– 1/2 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
– 2 Tbsp whole grain mustard

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_8127IMG_8102

METHOD

DAY 1: For the pork, debone the pork shoulder and remove any unwanted fat and gristle. Place the pork in a vacpac bag along with the stock, pepper corns, coriander and fennel seeds. Seal and place in the fridge over night.

IMG_8205

DAY 2: Fill the SousVide with water to the fill line located inside and set to a temperature of 57.5ºC. Place the bag with the pork in and leave until day three.

DAY 3: For the apple sauce place all ingredients into a vacpac bag and seal. Place into the SousVide and await for the final day to come!

IMG_8203IMG_8196

DAY 4: For the caramelised onion, place them in a fry pan on medium heat and cook them until they become translucent. Next add the sugar and balsamic vinegar, this starts your caramelisation process. Turn down the heat and cook for five to ten minutes or until sticky and caramelised. For the slaw, use the mandolin to shed the two different cabbages, fennel and cabbage carrots and put into a large bowl. Add the kewpie and lemon juice and using a fork combine all the ingredients together. Season with salt and pepper.

IMG_8201IMG_8198IMG_8206IMG_8200

For the bourbon sauce, place all ingredients into a small saucepan and whisk to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook for ten minutes then remove from the heat and set aside for the flavours to infuse. When you are ready to serve take the pork out of the SousVide and put on a hot frypan to brown and caramelised all over. Remove from the pan, place on the largest meat cutting board you have and with two forks pull apart the meat with oh so much ease.

To assemble cut the buns in half place a little bit (or a lot) of the pork, some slaw then caramelised onion and top with either of the two sauces (or both we were hungry!) and enjoy.

IMG_8197

Below are the links for cooking in the oven:

http://userealbutter.com/2007/11/09/carolina-style-pulled-pork-recipe/

AND here is the recipe my good blogger buddy GusFace Grillah made for pulled pork

http://gusfacegrillah.com/2014/03/03/pulled-pork-the-first-attempt/

Adapted the bourbon sauce from the guys at Modernist Cuisine link below. I added so many other ingredients to mine but the thing is I forgot all of them as i did not write them down 😦 haha

http://www.modernistcookingmadeeasy.com/info/modernist-recipes/more/sous-vide-pulled-pork-recipe

Cuttlefish with Meatballs and Peas


SEPIA AMB ALBÓNDIGAS Y GUISANTES

Over the weekend it was a bit chilly so cooking a big hearty stew was in order to help warm us up. We decided to look to one of our favourite chefs, Rick Stein, for inspiration. In the week leading up to our cookup for this weeks blog we were sending ideas back and forth of different recipes in our Rick Stein books (and combined I think we are one book shy of the collection) before we came across an amazing sounding dish: cuttlefish with meatballs and peas. This is an excellent spanish dish and best served with a big crusty loaf of bread, which went down an absolute treat.

IMG_7134

INGREDIENTS
– 6 tbsp Olive oil
– 2 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
– 1 Medium onion, finely chopped
– 90 ml (3.2fl oz) Dry white wine
– 1 Large vine tomato (about 200g), halved
– 2 tsp Tomato pur
– 15 g Slice crustless white bread
– 1.5 tbsp Milk
– 2 tbsp Chopped flat-leaf parsley
– 225g Minced chicken
– 225 g Minced pork
– 1 Pinch, freshly grated nutmeg
– 6 Large shell-on raw prawns
– 375g Cleaned cuttlefish, cut into 2cm strips
– 150ml Chicken stock
– 100g Shelled peas, fresh or frozen
– 1 Pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Picada
– 2 tbsp Olive oil
– 2 Fat garlic cloves, peeled but left whole
– 10g Slice crustless white bread
– 10g Toasted blanched almonds
– 1 Small vine-ripened or beef tomato, halved
– 1 tsp Flat-leaf parsley leaves

 

METHOD

First you want to grate the halved tomatoes for the sauce and the picada. Discard the skin. Right for the picada, heat the olive oil in a small frying pan over medium heat, add the garlic, the slice of bread and fry. Turning over now and then until golden brown all over. Lift out with a slotted spoon and add to the bowl of a mini food processor with the almonds, tomato, parsley and a tablespoon of cold water. Blend to a paste and set aside.

IMG_7132

Next place 2 tablespoons of the oil, half the garlic and the onion into a large saucepan and fry for 10 minutes until the onions are soft and lightly golden. Add the wine, grated tomato and tomato purée and reduce to a simmer (stirring occasionally) for 6-7 minutes or until reduced and thickened. For the meatballs first you want to tear the bread into a small bowl, sprinkle with the milk and leave until soft.  Next break apart with your fingers and add the remaining chopped garlic, parsley, minced chicken and pork, nutmeg and a good pinch each of salt and black pepper. Mix together well and shape roughly into 3cm balls.

IMG_7133

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil, add the meatballs and fry for 3 minutes. Shake the pan every now and cook until golden brown. Set aside on a plate and add the prawns. Fry for 1 minute on each side until just cooked through and set aside on another plate. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan, then the cuttlefish and stir-fry for 2 minutes or until it is nicely caramelized and just cooked through. Set aside with the prawns.

IMG_7129

Next we combine the tomato sauce and picada to a large pan then bring to a simmer for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, stir in the stock and bring to the boil whilst stirring. Add the peas, meatballs and cuttlefish and season to taste with salt and pepper. Lastly scatter the prawns in and simmer for 5 minutes until any remaining liquid has reduced, the cuttlefish has cooked through and throw some parsley on to garnish. Serve with crusty fresh loaf of bread.

IMG_7131