Three-tea twice cooked pork belly.

This isn't really brew or yeast related at all.

It's just a good recipe for something interesting to do with pork belly which uses a combination of Viet, Chinese and Malay styles to deliver a new and tasty dish.

Most people in Australia don't bother with pork belly because it's a very fat cut and therefore must be bad for you. Maybe it's not so good for you if you eat it every day, but with some judicious cooking you can reduce the fat a little and end up with a good and flavoursome dish for cheap.

This is a twice cooked dish. There is a boiling stage and a slow cooking stage. Generously feeds four.


Here's how:

* Pork belly - about 25 x 15 cm and about 5 or 6 cm thick, no bone.
* 2 tablespoons of Lapsang Souchong tea (smells like burnt wood, Twinings is a good cheap choice)
* 1 tablespoon of Kok Fa Cha (Chrysanthemum flower tea from an Asian supermarket or T2)
* 1 tablespoon of generic Ceylon tea
* 1 cm of cinnamon stick, smashed finely

In a large saucepan, put about 1.5 - 2 litres of water and all the tea and cinnamon. Bring it to the boil.
Cut the pork in half and immerse it into the boiling water.
Bring back to a slow boil and leave it for 20 minutes.

In the meanwhile:
* Soak ten to twelve dried shiitake mushrooms and four or five pieces of dried black fungus in water
* Heat a claypot or similar heavy ceramic dish safe for use on the stove top with a little oil
* Peel and smash four cloves of garlic and add to the oil - heating gently only as we're trying to get aroma and flavour, not garlic chips
* Chop four shallots into 40 mm sections, reserving the top 75 - 90 mm of each for garnish, adding the bottoms to the claypot now
* Add eight to ten dried red dates (Asian grocer's again)
* Add two star anise
* Smash a thumb sized piece of ginger - just pummel it to break open the fibres to let the flavour out
* Add a couple of generous dashes of dark soy sauce and one dash of kecap manis
* Give it a little stir now and then to make sure everything is being heated gently and the aroma and flavour is being extracted
* Rescue the pork from the boiling tea concoction and cut into 20 mm strips and then 20 mm sections, adding to the pot
* Give it a good stir and bring the heat up
* Make sure the meat is coloured all over by the dark soy
* By now the dried mushrooms should be rehydrated, so cut off and discard the stalks and cut each mushroom into three or four strips and toss into the pot
* After adding the mushrooms, add just enough of the mushroom water to almost cover the contents of the pot
* Add 50 - 100 ml more of the tea and fat from the pork boil
* Lid on!
* Bring it all to the boil and then reduce to a very low flame and keep it simmering for about 45 minutes to 90 minutes - whatever suits you - and stir occasionally to keep it all nicely combined.
* Garnish with finely chopped shallot and a chopped chilli or two and let sit for ten minutes after you turn off the flame, just to infuse the flavour a little more. Stir through. Serve.

Serve with steamed rice and a good strong stout, porter or other dark ale. Yummo!


If you don't have those teas at home, then you can try a normal 'red' tea like Pu Erh or whatever you have in your cupboard. Tea adds a little extra flavour to the meat and the tannic acid helps tenderise it and break down the fat somewhat. I wouldn't recommend green tea.

Also, if you have cooking caramel sauce, usually from Asian grocers, then add one or two tablespoons to the pot at the beginning to bring up the warm and toasty flavour. Don't be tempted to use the stuff they put on ice-cream - it's not the same and it might not work too well as it's too high in unconverted sugar.

Dried red dates are pretty healthy and are reputed good for the girls, if you know what I mean. To increase the health-giving properties of the dish, you could easily add a handful of dried wolf berries (or whatever fashionable name they're being called this week). Just get them from your Asian grocer and don't get ripped off by health food store or supermarket prices as they're mostly from the same place (China) and region and growers. Organic foodies: go knock yourselves out on the costly ones.


Cheers!!

BBQ Coca-cola pork belly - Asian Style!

There's nothing better than a beer and a BBQ - and a pork belly!

I know - this article has nothing to do with yeast - just with wholesome flavoursome tasty goodness.

Pork belly is one of those budget cuts of meat as it's rather fatty and doesn't really correspond much to 'standard' Aussie cooking. It was popular in traditional English and European cooking and it's still a major mainstay of Asian dishes as it's actually a really flexible ingredient and is utterly delicious if it's handled well.

I prepared this one for a BBQ at a mate's place, but regrettably didn't go owing to my wife coming down with regular flu / common cold and not wanting to infect everyone else there.

It's a twice-cooked dish - a guarantee of extra special tasty goodness. Once in the oven - once on the BBQ to pick up extra flavours.


Here's how you do it:
* A big piece of pork belly - say >2.5 and <3.5 kg - as long as it will fit your biggest baking dish. It's better if it has the skin on and the rib bones in. That way you get two yummy dishes from one slab of meat.
* A huge baking dish
* 2 - 3 litres of cola
* 1 cinnamon stick
* 2 star anise

- Preheat your oven to 180C fan forced
- Put the pork belly into the baking dish, cover it with the cola as deep as possible and slowly bring it to the boil on the stove top.
- Put the cinnamon stick and star anise into the liquid
- Cook for 2.5 hours or until it's nice and tender. The skin will toughen and may burn a little - it's not important as you will be discarding it.

In the meanwhile, make the marinade:
* 500 grams white sugar
* 200 ml Chinkiang Vinegar (brown vinegar from any Asian grocer - more if you want a sharper taste, up to 400 ml)
* 3 tablespoons crushed dried chilli (you may want to add up to eight or ten if you want more chilli flavour, or use four or five fresh strong chillies for more of a kick)
* 2 cinnamon sticks
* 150 gm Lee Kum Kee char siu sauce (any brand will be OK, but this one is very reliable)
* 80 gm Hoi Sin sauce
* 100 ml of a premium oyster sauce (cheap ones are too salty and not 'oystery' enough).

- Put the sugar into a heavy based saucepan and add enough water to make a thick paste
- Cook over a medium to high heat, stirring often, until it becomes a pale golden colour. If you add too much water, you will end up with sugar syrup and will need to boil it down until it thickens - and it won't go gold, so you will miss out on the caramel flavours.
- Remove from heat and let cool about five minutes.
- VERY carefully add the vinegar. If the sugar solution is too hot it may explode owing to the temperature difference. Be careful.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix well, and return to the heat to reduce until it thickens to a similar viscosity as the original sugar syrup / caramel.
- Remove from heat and let cool.

-- When the pork is done, remove it from the oven, discard the cooking liquid and let the pork cool down a bit.
- If you are going to BBQ it the same day, now is a good time to remove the skin and place the pork skin side down into the dish. It should pretty much come off in one piece. If you're preparing this a day or more in advance, leave the skin on and put the pork in the dish, skin side down.
- Pour the marinade over the pork. Cover with cling wrap and allow it to rest in the fridge for a few hours.
- The final cooking stage is about ten minutes either side on the BBQ, basting frequently with the marinade. You may want to BBQ longer or shorter depending on your preference.
- With a large knife, cut the ribs away from the slab of meat and serve.
- Slice the meat slab thinly, plate it, drizzle a little extra marinade on top and garnish with green chilli. Yummo!

It is quite possible to not BBQ it and serve as above. Warm out of the oven it's almost irresistible. If there are leftovers, you can refrigerate and consume much the same as cold cuts. Microwaved until warm and then served in slices with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and freshly cut chilli it's a fast and tasty side dish.

You can also make BBQ Pork Buns with leftovers. Keep some marinade and some meat and I will show you how in the next posting!


Cheers and Beers!!