Red Cooked Pork Roast
chinese, loo, pork
1 for meat, shanghainese
2 cup water
2 oz dry sherry or rice wine
3 tablespoon dark soy
2 tablespoon brown sugar
4 slice ginger
1 star anise
2 scallions
1 slice dried tangerine peel
1 for meat, pekingese
2 cup water
2 oz dry sherry or rice wine
2 oz dark soy
1 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
3 slice ginger
2 star anise
3 scallions
2 teaspoon sesame oil
1 stk cinnamon, small
1 teaspoon szechwan peppercorns, dry-toasted a; nd ground
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon five-spice powder(wu hsiang)
I said that the cheaper cuts don't give you a roast that has that same character as a "Pork Roast." I actually have roasted a picnic roast, and the result is: the fibers are looser, which you may or may not like; there's more fat in and around the meat; the meat is darker in color and actually a bit more tender.
What we tend to do with a picnic is to red-cook it (i.e., simmer in a soy-based broth). Renders out the fat nicely, softens gristly cuts, makes a very tender roast with lots of sauce for you to put on rice (you will want to save some sauce as a "starter" for the next batch: pour into a clean container, and the fat layer that comes to the top will preserve it for weeks in the fridge). The result is nice and red-brown and very savory; if you use a cut of pork with skin, the skin becomes melt-in-mouth tender and quite a delicacy, to the Chinese at least.
Here are a couple red-cook liquids from Yan Can Cook. What you do is boil this stuff together, then lower the meat (exterior scrubbed clean) in and cook slowly until done, a couple of hours. You will probably have to double these quantities for cooking a whole big hunk of pork, and I tend to add quite a bit more salt than is called for in the recipes.
Michael Loo
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