Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Pork So Good You Could Cry

I love reading Catherine Newman's blog.  She used to just be a parenting blogger, but as her kids got older and she felt like she couldn't just share their stories with the whole country (as they weren't really her stories anymore), she turned to food blogging.  With plenty of funny family stuff thrown in.  Anything I've tried of hers is amazing.  This pork was especially delicious.  I served it over rice with roasted veggies alongside, and it was awesome. 
Problems:
1) It takes forever.  Mostly passive cooking time, but I wouldn't want to be out of the house.
2) It is really pungent smelling, so your fridge will reek of the leftovers for days.  (Why does the food smell so good when it's cooking, but the leftover smells are so disgusting?  Question for the ages, eh?)
3) With country-style pork ribs as the base, I'm going to go ahead and declare--NOT healthy. 

Awesomes:
1) Pork--enough said.  I don't even really like meat, but slow-cooked pork transcends meat and lives somewhere around heaven.
2) Flavors we don't eat every day around here.  The different-ness was a nice change, but not TOO crazy.
3)  Mimi said, when trying it (and after I told her the name of the recipe), "This poke is so good, I just have to cwy."

4 pounds country-style pork ribs (with or without bones)
1/2 cup soy sauce or tamari
1/2 cup sherry or rice wine
1/3 cup sugar
6 1-inch pieces of ginger, peeled and smashed with the side of a heavy knife
6 scallions, white and green parts both, cut into 1-inch lengths
6 cups water

Combine all the ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil, covered, over high heat. Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook, covered, for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and cook for another 1 1/2 hours, or until the meat is fully tender and falling off the bones, and there is barely any liquid left in the pot. Cool briefly, then pull the meat off the bones with tongs or two forks, discarding any fat or ginger hunks or other unappetizing lumps of anything you might come up. Return the meat to the cooking liquid in the pot, bring it back to a simmer, and simmer, stirring occasionally at first and then frequently as the liquid evaporates (you have to be super-careful that it doesn't burn at this point), until the meat is glazed and frying in its own fat; if you want the meat juicier and saucier, then skip this last step. Drain off any residual fat and serve.

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