I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.


Gluten and lactose are not my friends.


Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.


I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

March 17, 2014

St Patrick's Day Pickled Pork


 


There's a fair bit of Irish blood in this Chef from my Dad's side of the family


Though diluted through generations in the Wide Brown Land away from the Emerald Isle, St Patrick's Day is always heralded with a phone call from my Dad wishing me well in a terribly fake Irish accent. I guess with his middle name being Patrick, he just can't help himself :) As a mother of two girls, we had to name the male cat Patrick in Dad's honour, but Pat the Cat was happy to let St Patrick's Day pass by with just an extra cuddle or two


Today's celebratory menu is Pickled Pork, a tasty alternative to Corned Beef and served up with these absolutely gorgeous mini root vegetables I found at the markets this week. Tiny onions, turnips, carrots, beets and dwarf cabbage- how could I resist?



Perfect Pickled Pork

1 piece of Pickled (Corned) Pork
1 large or 2 small bottles of Apple Cider
1 Carrot- roughly chopped
1 Onion- roughly chopped
Parsley Stems
3 Bay Leaves
1/4 cup Golden Syrup
1 Star Anise
6 whole Peppercorns
4 whole Cloves
4 Allspice


Isn't this a lovely piece of meat? Glossy and glistening, just waiting to jump into the pot! Nowadays corned meat isn't as tough and salty as it used to be, and there's no need to pre-soak or change the cooking water halfway through




Now for the extra flavourings- pop in the cider, spices and golden syrup and stir to mix through. Add enough water to just cover the meat




Pop in the carrot, onion and parsley




Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes per 500grm, or until lovely and tender. Pull out the meat and allow it to rest for little while to firm up while the veggies cook




Bring the pot liquid to the boil and pop in the whole onions, turnips, carrots and the quartered cabbage. If you don't want to taint everything pink, I advise you to cook the beets in a little pot of their own :)




Serve the pork sliced into nice thick slices along with the cute little baby vegetables. You can make a White or Mustard Sauce (using the cooking liquid) to accompany it all, or just drizzle with some of the cooking liquid to keep it nice and moist- yummo!


So Dear Readers, have you any Irish branches on your Family Tree and do you ever just buy groceries just because they're cute?



 

25 comments:

  1. Lorraine Not Quite nugellaMarch 18, 2014 at 3:00 AM

    I didn't know about your Irish roots lovely! I have a corned beef in my freezer.

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    1. I think I'm like most Aussies nowadays Lorraine- a real mix of background and heritage. I'd rather claim my birth country of Singapore as my roots really :) xox

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  2. No Ireland in my family tree (well, there's only a whole lot of India and a small dash of Nepal :)

    Happy St. Patrick's day to you!

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    1. I love finding out about peoples family background Joyti, yours sounds very interesting :)

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  3. My husband doesn't like corned beef, but I've never tried him on pickled pork - I'll have to hunt some down.
    St. Patrick's day was always big in our house when I was a kid. My mother used to put a green chamber pot on a pedestal by the front door to welcome guests & we celebrated the "traditional" way - potato pancakes for the kids and something a little more liquid for the adults.

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    1. My family's not keen on corned beef either Amanda, but they don't mind pickled pork or corned lamb- maybe because they're sweeter perhaps? A little drop of something is very traditional indeed, but what's with the chamber pot? I'd love to hear the story behind that! X

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  4. What a perfect St Patrick's Day recipe, Bec, and so so so fresh!

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  5. I've never cooked pickled pork and I'll have to phone my butcher to see if he provides that cut of meat. This is such a lovely looking meal that would be not only tasty, but so good for you with all those lovely vegetables xx

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    1. Sometimes you can buy it just at Woolies Charlie. It's definitely an easy meal that takes care of itself, and the veggies are just lovely cooked in the liquid too xox

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  6. I didn't even know you could pickle pork! What an interesting recipe, Becca! xx

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    1. It's made the same way as corned beef Celia, you can sometimes find corned lamb too that is really yummy as well xox

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  7. My nan used tto always make pickled pork but I haven't had it for so long!!! Yours looks so delicious! Yes we are from Irish stock... although no accent ;)

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    1. Oh I love the accent Julie! We visited a restaurant with an Irish waiter, and my dad couldn't understand a single word they said! I had to translate for him- hilarious :) x

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  8. Happy St Patties Day lovely one. How are you? Well I hope. It's taken me a while to track down all my favorites.
    Absolutely crazy for pork, although wouldn't have thought to pickle it. Interesting recipe. :) Looking forward to catching up with all you've been up too. Xxx

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    1. Welcome back Anna! This is a nice change from our usual pork roast- though nothing beats crackle!

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  9. Oh no better way to celebrate St. Patty's day than this. Lordy it looks good!

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  10. A perfect festive dish, it looks so lovely, I bet it's full of flavour, and I love a good load of veggies!

    Krissie x - http://pearlsofstyle.blogspot.com.au

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    1. Definitely plenty of flavour Krissie, and the veggies were lovely and sweet too- yummo!

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  11. I have never considered cooking pickled pork in apple cider! What a great idea, does it soften the intense flavour? I love your photograph and this is just perfect for those Autumn Canberra evenings. A great recipe :D

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    1. The cider adds a lovely sweetness that compliments the pork nicely Merryn, and the spices are nice and subtle and permeate through the meat as well. It is starting to cool down nicely now, autumn is my favourite season :)

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  12. Thanks Lizzie, the veggies were delicious! :)

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  14. That looks so good Bec. I like cooking with Cider I made a lovely cake with some raspberry cider yesterday. Great idea to use it like this

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