Asian style pulled pork with tasty rice - in 2.5 hours!

When I lunched with the Australian Good Taste Readers Issue team with Tobie Puttock a few months ago we were served his pork neck stuffed with figs, fennel and pistachio (this recipe appeared in the reader issue if you have it and is also in the 'How to cook like an Italian' which I'm giving away this month)..   It was so soft and flavourful I swore to myself then and there I was ordering a pork neck at our next farmgate, and that I did.

However, by the time I actually got around to making it, figs were out of season - doh!  So I searched for another pork neck recipe.. and I found one for sticky Asian pork neck.  The recipe on screen looked amazing but never in a million years could I have anticipated the tenderness and the taste. It's not that sticky but oh lord it's so tender and melty-in-the-mouthy!  And flavour?  Amazing.

You could swear you slaved over this but you don't need to - really.  Its easy and would be perfect for feeding a crowd.


Ingredients

2kg pork neck
50g fresh ginger, sliced
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 red chili, roughly chopped
4 star anise
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
1/2 cup oyster sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder


Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees

In the bottom of a lidded casserole dish place ginger, chili, garlic, star anise

Slice the pork about 3/4 of the way down and place in the casserole dish.

Mix the brown sugar with the shaoxing wine, oyster sauce and chinese five spice powder in a bowl or jug, stir until the sugar dissolves (only about a minute).

Pour the wine mixture over the pork, place the lid on the casserole dish and place into the oven for 1 hour.  

Remove lid, turn the pork over, baste with juices/sauce from bottom of the dish and place back in the oven for  another hour.

Whilst the pork cooks for the last hour,  steam/boil some rice, and as take the pork out of the oven, make a quick fried rice with the rice, some frozen peas and corn, finely sliced cabbage and a little carrot if you like - use some of the pan juices instead of oil, and toss the rice in it until everything is warm and the cabbage has wilted - about 5 minutes.

 Slice your pork and serve!

Be a Fan

Print this post in friendly format