caramelized asian pork

The hardest part about making this is getting the cut of pork. It's really simple otherwise. This would work best with a piece of pork belly but you're probably never going to find one unless you order it. You might luck out if you have a good asian or mexican market but your standard grocery store probably won't have it. That's ok cuz you won't need it. Instead find yourself a pork shoulder or sometimes called a boston butt or pork butt. And no, it's not a pigs actual butt, that's a ham. Shoulders are something you can normally find anywhere but make sure it has a nice layer of fat on it before you buy it. Sometimes they get over trimmed and pork fat is something you need to make this recipe turn out well. They will vary in size but I would suggest something in the 5-7 pound range if you want about 4 servings.

I'll have to do a post on breaking down a pork butt, but for now I'll give you the easy version of what you'll need to do to get the cut you want. Place the pork shoulder fat side down on a cutting board. If you got one with a bone have that facing towards you and the bone should look like a funny "T". You want to make a horizontal cut at the bottom of the "T". For those of you that have a boneless pork shoulder make the cut around 1 1/2 to 2 inches from the fatty bottom side of the pork shoulder. Go all the way across so you end up with a nice flat piece. If you want the presentation to be fancy you can square it up to make it more uniform. As for the rest of it? Throw it in a crockpot or slow oven and make pulled pork with it. If you want to get adventerous message me and I'll explain how to break the rest of the butt down and give you a couple ideas.

Lay down a bed of green onion on some tin foil and lay the pork fat side down. Cover with more green onion and season with salt. Tightly wrap the pork in foil and cook @ 200 for 6 hours. Cooking this low won't render very much fat-again we want that in there. After it's cooked put it in the refrigerator to completely cool. Give it at least a couple hours or if you plan ahead keep it in the fridge overnight and dinner will be easy the next day.

When ready, unwrap the pork and toss the green onions it was cooked with. You'll notice it hasn't really shrunk much and it may not looked cooked but don't worry, it's safe to eat now but we aren't done. Cut the pork in big square chunks but be sure to leave that fatty side on each piece. In a saute pan on medium heat put the pork fat side down to render some fat. You'll have a couple minutes so it's a good time to mix the sauce. Cook the pieces on each side until golden brown. When browned, soak up some of the fat with a paper towel and tongs. Turn the heat to medium high and add a few tablespoons of the sauce. Keep turning the pork so all sides get nice and caramelized. Next, make some room in the middle of the pan and add the garlic, chilies, carrot, pea pods and green onion and saute for a minute. Add the remaining sauce and water. Cook for a few more minutes so that the sauce thickens up and done. Serve over rice or asian noodles.

The pork:

Pork

1 bunch green onion

Salt

Sauce:

½ C brown sugar

4 tbsp rice vinegar

4 tbsp fish sauce

1 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp ginger juice (grate a bunch and just squeeze it)

The rest:

8-10 cloves garlic-sliced thin

8-10 dried Arbol chilies

½  C carrot cut into thin matchsticks

½ C pea pods

1 bunch green onion-chopped

1 Cup water