Karl’s Slow Cooked Asian Pork Shoulder

I decided to get creative with this week’s Sunday dinner. A bit of this and a bit of that to create a new sauce to roast my pork shoulder. It is not strictly a Chinese dish, but more of an Asian influenced roast pork.

In China, cooking large pieces of meat is not a “home cooking” technique—very few individual homes have an oven. This is a job for the professional siu mei (燒味) masters. If you want roasted meat for your dinner, you run to the shop and buy what you need. This meat is usually chopped up and reheated just before serving. Having lived in China, you actually did not have to go as far as the shop, because every evening small handcarts would spread out over the neighborhoods with cooked meat for people’s dinners.

Note: To go with my pork I made a mushroom dish, a vegetable stir fry and and some quick cucumber pickles.

Karl’s Slow Cooked Asian Pork Shoulder

Ingredients

Marinade

2 Tbs. plum sauce
2 Tbs. light soy sauce
2 Tbs. dark soy sauce
2 Tbs. + ¼ cup shaoxing, rice wine, separate uses
2 Tbs. fresh ginger, grated
1 Tbs. Chili Garlic sauce
½ Tbs. Chinese Five spice powder
1 tsp. Sichuan pepper, ground to a powder
1 tsp. sesame oil
6 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste
½ tsp. white pepper

1 pork shoulder blade roast (~5 lbs.)

Directions

1. Mix the marinade ingredients in a small bowl.

Note: Reserve the ¼ cup of shaoxing for later.

Tip: It is best to start this the night before you are planning to roast your pork. Plan on starting to roast the meat in the morning to be ready for your evening meal.

2. Crosshatch the fat cap on the roast and place it in a sealable gallon plastic bag.

3. Smear all of the marinade over the roast, press out the air, and seal the bag.

4. Let the meat marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

Tip: Flip the bag to redistribute the marinade several times.

5. Six to eight hours before your meal, lightly grease a Dutch oven.

Note:  Remove the pork from the refrigerator an hour before you are planning to roast your meat.

6. Place the pork in the Dutch oven—fat cap up—and pour the marinade over the roast.

7. Pout the remaining ¼ cup of shaoxing in the bottom of the Dutch oven, cover, and place it in a preheated 275º F oven.

8. Roast the meat for 5-7 hours.

Note: Baste the pork with the juices about once an hour.

9. Remove the cover and increase the temperature and continue roasting the pork of 30 minutes to an hour more.

10. Remove the roast from the oven and cover the pot.

Tip: Use a baster to remove the juices and a fat separator to de-fat the sauce.

Note: If you wish you may thicken the sauce with corn starch mixed with water.

11. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes and then transfer it to a serving platter.

12. Serve it while it is still warm.