Slow-cooked stew

I love slow-cooked stews. I love the simplicity of the preparation, the suitability of cheap cuts of meat that often taste the best, but need ages to break down the collagen in them, and the results! I love the falling-apart, unctuous, makes-it's-own-gravyness of the slow cooked dish. However, LW doesn't share my delight in these foods. I think she may be recalling, only too well, the school dinner stews where the cooking process seemed to turn meat into gristle, and the veggies all took on a uniform grey starchiness. And if that's correct, who can blame her?


So here I am making enough stew to feed a family of 8, and we'll just have to see how things work out. I may be in the doghouse, or I may end up changing LW's mind! The challenge is on! And so is the slow cooker.

I'm starting with a kilo of cubed shoulder pork and 1.5 kilos of stewing steak. I wanted to see how the tang of the pork goes with the deep meatiness of the beef; rather like the combination that works so well in a good meatball. The meat is all batch-fried to brown & caramelise it, and then put in the slow cooker with a couple of glasses of red wine, a similar amount of chicken stock, 2 tbs of dijon mustard, loads of herbes de provence, a splash of light soy, a glug of red wine vinegar, and a generous pinch of chinese 5 spice for the indefinable, and a tsp of paprika for redness. I also added about 15 whole cloves of garlic and 2 finely diced onions. This all covers the meat (just) and is allowed to seethe for about 6 hours. I'm not there yet, so I'll write about what happens next as I go...

...I just tasted the liquid in which the meat is cooking, and it was tasting a bit "thin" so I've added a generous glug of oyster sauce, about a tbs of worcester sauce and a squish of anchovy paste. Now it has a much deeper taste.

I do have my work cut out for me though: LW's just wandered into the kitchen and pronounced: "It just smells like stew in here." Oh, the humanity! Will she like it, will she change her mind? Will anyone care?


...it's 4 hours into the cooking time and the meat is still not nearly as tender as I would wish. The stock is very thin, so I thought: "should I thicken this towards the end of the cook by reduction, or by making a roue and adding it?" So I went for neither option, and, instead, I made some dumplings to soak up some of the juice. Herb dumplings: Flour, baking powder, salt, grated cold butter (I'd have preferred suet, but there was none to hand) and chopped spring onion & coriander. All mixed together until a breadcrumby texture is reached, then a couple of tbs of milk to make a dough. Then rolled into little balls to put on top of the stew when the guests arrive. (And I'll put the whole lot into the oven to give it a bit more heat).

dumplings, newly rolled, and rather sputnik.

nearly ready...

...6 hours of cooking and now the meat has become tender enough to cut with a spoon. Time for the dumplings to go in and a wee visit to the oven:

and my, the dumplings have puffed out

I'm serving this with a creamy mash, some glazed carrots and sauteed leeks. I'm not adding these to the stew, though, because I suspect that there's a good chance that this will return LW's default setting to "school dinner" and that's what I'm trying to avoid.

I have to say, this barely does the meal justice.

It tasted great.

And...p.s. The poor dogs. We have a load of out-of-date, freezer-burnt stewing steak. It's not fit for human consumption, but some creatures have no sense of taste:

This was going to be tonight's meal for us, but it wasn't.

mmm. Steak tatare for dogs.

Japanese Braised Pork (Buta no Kanuki)

One of my favourite foods is belly pork. And one of my favourite ways of eating it is the Japanese dish of braised, slow-cooked pork served on rice with whole grain mustard (that most traditional of Japanese ingredients). If I get it right, the pork will be very tender; soft enough to pull apart with chopsticks, sweet, and spicy with an unctuous gravy that is very moreish. The sake bar and restaurant Kura in Auckland do a good version of it, and I always leave wanting more. Because their portions are so small. (Actually, that's not fair, their portions are fine.)

If I get it wrong, I'm not telling.

I am, however, deviating from the conventional, and purists, devoted to the art of Buta will be appalled. However, because of my European ancestry, I can't go past a piece of belly pork without insisting on some crackling, so here's what I'm doing:

Marinating the cubed, boned belly (still with skin on) in soy, dry sherry, ginger, crushed star anise and cracked pepper. For a day at least.

only 2 days to go...

after a day in the marinade, the meat has gone quite dark.

Dry the pork cubes, reserve the marinade, and then fry the pork in a big pan until browned on all sides. 

mmm...

Meanwhile, dissolve about 2 tablespoons of sugar in a cup of water and add to the marinade, and return the pork to it once browned. Return this to the fridge, and once cooled, skim off any fat, and place the cubes of pork in a roasting dish, skin side up. 

mmmm...

Add the marinade, and top up with water until the pork is covered except for the skin. 

mmmmm...

Slow cook in the oven at 140deg C for several hours; the liquid will need topping up with water from time to time, and the pork should become sticky and soft enough to carve with a chopstick. When it's cooked,turn on the grill in the oven and crisp up the skin. (I hope!)

mmmmmm!

UPDATE: the skin was so full of moisture from the marinade that it just didn't want to go crispy! Instead, it had become soft and silky and not a bit chewy, so I didn't risk any more cooking (after 3.5 hours), and here's how it looked:

Blimey!

Decant the gravy, separate the stock from the fat, and reduce the stock in a pan until it's glossy and thick enough to coat the back of the moon.

Serve with steamed shredded cabbage silverbeet, grainy mustard, and steamed rice. With the gravy. Don't forget the gravy. Apparently hard-boiled eggs are a traditional accompaniment but this is just lunch!

ready...

steady...

go!

3 days to prepare, 30 min to eat!

But it was really worth it; absolutely sensational! I will be doing this again.

Pork fillet, coriander, cider, creme fraiche...

The rain finally arrived, and almost all at once. The grass is growing fast, the ducks are quacking loudly and now the sun's come out again, it feels like spring!

In fact, the Metservice had suggested we would get a very wet Monday, but by the evening it was calming down. That didn't stop me planning another comfort food favourite: Eye fillet of pork.

Usually I'd sear then roast the pork whole with Chinese spices, and then slice it to serve, probably with rice. But I'd vaguely remembered a Greek recipe called "Afelia" in which cubes of pork are cooked with coriander, lemon juice, cider and oil. Rather than head for the recipe books, I improvised. (I rarely follow recipes). So it wasn't true to the Greek original.

I sweated onion & garlic in olive oil, added about 2tsp of crushed coriander seeds, and softened the whole lot before removing them from the pan. I then hot-fried the cubed pork fillet and deglazed with cider. I then added the onions etc and cooked & reduced the panful until sticky, before adding creme fraiche and apple slices, and cooked until the apple was soft.

Served with broccoli and mash. Aaah!

Now we're in the comfort zone.