Beer Braised Pulled Pork

Pulled pork is bloody everywhere in the UK at the moment, and I have to admit that this has been getting on my nerves. It seems to be part of a tidal wave of barbecue-piri piri-barbacoa-sloppy joe-sweet chilli-chipotle-hickory-bollocks, washing over the country. I feel quite loyal to the traditional British way to do a roast pork sandwich (with stuffing, apple sauce and crackling) you see, and would quite like to shout at the americans about it.

But it does all look bloody tasty. So, with a sigh of resignation, I embarked on this recipe today. When I found it, I was attracted to it because it did not seem either overly sweet or too vinegary. This was something chuffing else.

Just give me a moment and imagine, right now, what you would say if you had to demand sex, assertively and using the strongest, most offensive language in your vocabulary. Go on, think about that, then look at this picture:

Basically, if you put "beer braised barbecue pork" into a search engine, you will come across a recipe by a man called Dave Lieberman (thanks Dave .. and by the way, does your surname mean, "loverman"? Which does figure) and you will also see that its been tweaked and blogged about by a few other people. I can't pretend to have done anything different. One difficulty I had was understanding the quantity of meat involved. As I understood it, Mr Loverman suggests a 15lb piece of meat, a quantity out of the question for most normal people. Would that fit in your oven, anyway?  How many children have you got, Mr Loverman? So I was not sure whether my 1.3 kilo piece would be overpowered. Anyway, this is what I did; and if you want to follow, you need to procure the following:

a big piece of pork shoulder, with the crackling removed. Mine was 1.3 kilos.
A spice rub, made of the following, mixed together in a bowl:
½ tablespoon of salt
40 grinds of black pepper
1 tablespoon chilli powder (less if you are scared)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
½ tablespoon chinese 5 spice
½ tablespoon smoked paprika

I'd say the salt, pepper, chilli and garlic are essentials. You could play around with the rest.

You will also need:
a bottle of beer
½ cup tomato ketchup
2 tablespoons french mustard
3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
⅓ cup dark brown sugar

Rub the powder all over the meat. Get your oven really hot; I had my fan oven at 220c. Place the pork in a roasting tin and cook it, uncovered, for 40 minutes.
Pour the beer over the pork, into the roasting tin. Cover it all with foil, and poke a few holes in the foil. Reduce the oven temperature to 150c (fan) and cook for 2½ hours more.
Remove from the oven, lift out the meat and put it on a big plate, or dish you plan to serve it in. Pour the beer and juices from the tin into a saucepan, and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer it on the hob until it has reduced by half; it will go thick, dark, and syrupy.

While the sauce is reducing, get two forks and shred, or pull the meat apart. It should be very soft and tender. When the sauce is ready, just pour it over and mix in. Your sticky, delicious, aromatic and rich pulled pork is now done.

As you can see, I ate mine the way it is eaten in the US; on a white roll with some coleslaw. I could not waste the crackling of course. I put that on a baking sheet and cooked it on the shelf below the pork, for its final hour. Then, while the sauce was cooking, I whacked the oven up to 220c and within 20 minutes or so, I had a slab of crackling so golden and crunchy that when I cut it, bits of it flew up into my face.

The pork tasted almost like hoisin. The whole thing reminded me of the classic crispy duck with pancakes. Something about the dark, sticky soft meat, encased in soft and pappy white dough, all with some cool salad, to bring crispness and crunch. Maybe I am a pulled pork fan after all. Now I am dreaming that we could all live in a kind of multicultural foodie utopia! It could work!

Thankyou, America. Although with regards crackling, sage & onion stuffing and apple sauce: you still don't know what you are missing.. I will have to introduce you another time.

Spicy and sour pork with noodles

I adapted this from a Jamie Oliver recipe where he makes a sour sauce made of rhubarb to cook the pork in, but I did not have any rhubarb. So I used a lot of lime juice instead.

Stage one - cut your pork belly into big chunks, and cook it in a marinade made of honey (4tbsp), soy sauce (4 tbsp? Possibly too much), 2 red chillies, 4 cloves garlic, a thumb of ginger, and juice of 3 limes. Cook it at 180c for 1 hr 30 mins, covered.

When it is cooked, get a frying pan on a low heat and fry the pieces (or just a few of them) gently for about 30 mins. Very very slowly, and keep turning them over. This will render even more fat out, and make them sticky and unctuous.

Let them rest a little bit while you assemble the rest. Hot noodles in bowl. Pork pieces on top. A spoon or two of the marinade. Then scatter over fresh coriander leaves, chopped red chilli, sliced spring onion, cucumber shavings, then squeeze over more lime juice. 

Silly Choc Chip Bread Pudding, by Nigella

This receipt is in Nigella's new "Kitchen" book, and she also made it on the telly the another night. Her eyes danced manically as she mentioned something about this being an american equivalent to our bread & butter pudding. So, its very easy to do and made with chocolate chips, (I just chopped up a bar of choc though) milk, cream, eggs and sugar. Now, it is nice and it certainly warms your tummy on a chilly night. But I still reckon it's not as good as we do it this side of the pond .. the scents of nutmeg and cinnamon, the waft of vanilla, and the juicy nip of an occasional sultana .. will be conspicuous by their absence ..

If you have surfed in looking for the recipe, it can be found here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chocolate_chip_bread_53341

Peach Pudding (or any fruit you want for that matter)

The recipe for this came from a charity booklet of celeb chef's family recipes, I found in Morrisons one day. This was in there, by Mary Berry, and she called it "Hot Plum Torte" which I think is sexing it up a bit. Its just a sponge mixture in a dish, fruit on top (common sense suggests you might want to poach a hard fruit for a bit first), sprinkle on some sugar, and bake it.

Use an approx 28cm diameter ovenproof dish, and have the oven at about 180c. If your dish is smaller in diameter (therefore the pud being a bit deeper) I suggest a bit cooler, and cook a bit longer. I learned that from experience. Mix and beat 75g butter, 75g sugar, 100g SR flour, 1tsp baking powder, the zest of an orange and 2 large eggs in a bowl. Spoon into the dish or tin. Tumble, chuck, or place 900g of your chosen fruit on top. Sprinkle over approx 150g demerara sugar, depending on your taste or the sweetness of the fruit. Bake for 30 mins and check it. Mine always needs a bit longer in the dish I use. Torte, my arse. This is just lovely PUDDIN and just right after your Sunday lunch! With custard or ice cream!

Crushed New Potatoes with Lemon, Olives and Olive Oil

It was nice making these. Again, from Diana's book, "Cook Simple". You just boil the baby taties then you squash them just a little bit, but not too much. Then you chuck in olive oil, lemon juice and pieces of black olive. Delicious!

If you are not keen on olives, leave them out but consider replacing them with something salty, like maybe some feta cheese (if the rest of your menu is not already too cheesy) or just make sure you season well. I will leave you to consider other salty possibilities ..

Diana Henry's Aubergines stuffed with Chilli, Feta and Mint

From her book, "Cook Simple" which I think is very good!

Simple and obtainable ingredients, in a combo you might not have tried before ... delicious, they were. There was also a bit of sour cream/creme fraiche daubed on the top, and some caramelized onions and fried garlic in there too. Troff, troff, troff.

Simon Hopkinson's Stuffed Tomatoes

Oh, bugger, I can't remember which book of his, these came from. It might have been from his new(ish) veggie one. Or "Week in, Week out". He does really good books, anyway.

Forgive my little babies if they look a bit squished. I cooked them for a long time and they collapsed. However, the long slow cooking gave them a perfect, concentrated sticky, burnished tomatoey flavour and if you close your eyes when eating these, you could be transported to a beachside taverna in Crete. I had a previous life there, you know. Did you know that?

My Take, on an Iced Orange Cake (originally by Rachel Allen)

This simple and delicious little cake is from a recipe by Rachel Allen. The blueberries were my idea, and were just right with the runny icing (ok perhaps a bit too runny) and the orangey cake. Rachel points out in her recipe (found here) that the cake is supposed to be quite dense, and sink a bit in the middle. Which makes a nice surface for a little pile of berries, I reckon.

Cheesy Chicken & Roasted Tomatoes

Simple for simpletons, this one. Chuck the tomatoes in the dish and add a splash of wine. Make a pocket in your chicken breasts and stuff cheese inside. Strew with thyme and bake until chicken is done.

Original recipe can be found here.

Vegetable Parmigiana (by Giada de Laurentiis)

Nigella's Lemon Risotto

This is probably my favourite and most stunningly gorgeous thing to cook and eat ... ever.

When Nigella made this on Nigella Bites she seemed to suggest that she can eat it all, which would be very naughty indeed. But its creamy. It's cheesy. It's lemony, it's aromatic and it's buttery ... phew .. this really is the kind of dish you could believe had been cooked by angels and brought down from heaven for you..

If it's the recipe you are after, I would recommend visiting http://www.nigella.com/ - it is on there. Meanwhile, drool over the photo I took of mine, and let me promise, you will not regret rustling this up for tea!!

New Mexican Mild Red Chilli Bread (by Marlena Spieler)

This recipe comes from Marlena's very good book, called "Hot & Spicy" which basically, is a lot of recipes, all of which are, er, spicy.

This is essentially just like garlic bread, but with the addition, in the butter, of mild red chilli powder, spring onion, coriander leaves, and parmesan cheese.

Tasmanian Lemon Pie by Tamasin Day Lewis

Tamasin reckons she got this recipe from somewhere in West Ireland, when she was on holiday .. so what the connection with Tasmania is, I have no idea .....

It ends up with a soft, shuddery, spongy top, and a pool of lemon curd type sauce underneath.

Beat 4oz soft butter into 10oz sugar. Mix in 4 egg yolks. Then gradually add, beating well as you go, 400ml milk and 4 heaped tablespoons of plain flour (as much as you can get on the spoon, I mean). Then add the grated rind and juice of two lemons. Finally, in another bowl, whisk up the egg whites until stiff. Fold them into the mixture, then transfer it all into a 2 litre buttered ovenproof dish. Bake in the oven at 180c for 25-30 minutes.

Banana Bread by Tamasin Day Lewis

More adventures in the summer holiday baking extravaganza..

Millionaire Shortbread

From Nigella's Domestic Goddess book.

Butter, sugar, butter, flour, butter, sweetened condensed milk, butter, syrup, butter and .. chocolate.

Don't forget the butter.

Thai Green Curry

Based on (ie. nearly the same but not quite .. pea aubergines??) as Tana Ramsay's green curry, cooked on the telly. Recipe from the UKTV Food website!

Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1-2 tbsp green curry paste
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 garlic clove
1 red pepper, diced
1 stalk Lemon grass, roughly chopped into large chunks
2 cm piece Ginger, roughly chopped
800g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, roughly chopped
400ml coconut milk
8 kaffir lime leaves
1 tsp nam pla (Thai fish sauce)
1 tsp dark Soy sauce
1 handful Coriander, chopped, plus extra for garnish
1 handful baby pea aubergines
1 lime, juice only
Basmati rice, to serve

1. Heat the oil in a wok and add the curry paste and sugar. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved. Add the garlic, red pepper, lemon grass and ginger. 2. Brown the chicken thighs in the wok, then stir in the coconut milk, lime leaves, fish sauce, soy sauce and coriander. Place the lid on and allow to simmer under a low heat for 25-30 minutes. 3. Stir in the pea aubergines and cook for 5-6 minutes, until tender. Squeeze in the lime juice to taste. 4. Serve the curry with basmati rice and a sprinkling of chopped coriander.

Easter Food III (for a cold snowy Easter): Nigella's Steak & Kidney Pudding

Look at this gorgeous little baby. Recipe from How To Be A Domestic Goddess, by Nigella Lawson.

Nigella's Greek Lamb Stew with Pasta, and Feta and Oregano Topping

My version did differ in some ways: 1) I used red wine, not white. 2) I left the carrots in, because I like them .. when this was done on Nigella Bites, she fished them out. 3) I added cinnamon because I like it, in Greek dishes. 4) I halved the recipe.

I tried the completely unauthentic but delicious crumbled feta and fresh oregano mixture as a topping - do not consider eating this without it! What a lovely bowlful of steaming, meaty, winey, herby, pastary, cheesey JOY this made.

Pesto Rice Salad (more Christmas buffet..)

More from Delia; this recipe (like the roasted tomatoes) can be found on her website at http://www.deliaonline.com/
This is a room-temperature rice salad and I would have been more than happy to have not had to share this with other people. It's gorgeous. And check out my Algerian couscous spoon!
You use risotto rice for it, and cook it in vegetable stock (I always use marigold vegetable bouillon powder for this). The recipe says to make your own pesto, but I really couldn't be bothered and I used fresh pesto from the fridge in the supermarket, and it was utterly superb. I also added an extra squeeze of lemon. I think the bits of spring onion on top (added as instructed) were superfluous really. Some bits of torn basil would be just as pretty. Ok, is it really rice salad, or just cold risotto?

Roasted Tomato Salad (for a Christmas office buffet)

This is a Delia Smith recipe and can be found on her website, http://www.deliaonline.com/

I roasted the tomatoes the night before, with salt and pepper, garlic, and olive oil.

(By all means, click on this bloody fantastic photo, save the proper big version and have it as your desktop background..)
The next day, I added fresh basil leaves and little balls of mozzarella.