Advertisement
Advertisement
Susan Jung's recipes
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more

Susan Jung's Father's Day recipes for pork sandwiches and sliders

Make Dad some hearty 'dude food' to chew on this Sunday

Herb-crusted pork tenderloin sandwiches with sriracha mayonnaise and cabbage, radicchio and fennel coleslaw

These dishes are what my food stylist, Nellie Ming Lee, calls "dude food", which seems appropriate for Father's Day, although ladies can certainly appreciate them, too. You don't need a knife and fork to eat these - just serve with plates and plenty of napkins.

I use small hamburger buns or slightly sweet, eggy brioche-type buns. They shouldn't be too tall, though, or the filling-to-bread ratio will be off.

 

Make the coleslaw. Finely shred the cabbage, radicchio and fennel bulb and put them in a large bowl. Sprinkle five grams of salt over the vegetables and mix thoroughly. Add the olive oil and mix until the vegetables are evenly coated, then stir in the cider vinegar and freshly ground black pepper. Taste for seasonings and correct if necessary.

Stir the sriracha into the mayonnaise.

Cut the pork tenderloin against the grain into thin (about 5mm thick) pieces. Put each slice of pork between two layers of cling-film and gently pound with the flat side of a meat mallet until the meat is very thin. Remove the cling-film; if the pieces of meat are very large (in diameter), cut or tear them so they're about the same size of the buns (it's fine if they're uneven). Lay the slices on a cutting board and sprinkle them lightly with salt and pepper.

Mix the panko with the chopped parsley and chives, one teaspoon of salt and some black pepper. Put the flour, eggs and panko/herbs in separate shallow bowls. Pour cooking oil to the depth of about 5mm in a skillet and heat it over a medium flame. Dredge a slice of pork in the flour, shake off the excess, then coat it with the egg. Coat it with panko/herb mixture then place it in the hot oil. Repeat with more of the pork slices but do not crowd the skillet. Fry the pork very quickly - it's thin, so it will take only about a minute to cook. Drain the meat on paper towels.

After all the meat has been cooked, assemble the sandwiches. Cut the buns in half. Spread a thin layer of sriracha mayonnaise over the bottom half of the buns. Divide the pork pieces between the buns then add some of the coleslaw. Add the top half of the bun and serve the sandwiches with any remaining coleslaw on the side.

This recipe will feed about 10 people. Leftovers keep for about a week, and can be reheated for a quick meal.

I like eating the skin of pork belly, and it adds richness to the finished dish. If you dislike eating skin, remove it in one large piece from the meat, then put it into the pan with the other ingredients before simmering them. When the pulled pork is ready, remove and discard the skin.

Cut the pork belly into large pieces then dry them with paper towels. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven set over a medium-high flame, then brown the pieces of pork belly on all sides. Remove the pork, but leave behind the fat. Stir in the onions and cook until wilted. Add the cherry tomatoes and a sprinkling of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes start to collapse. Use a large slotted skimmer to remove the onions and tomatoes from the pan, then turn the flame to low. Add the paprika and chilli flakes and stir constantly for 30 seconds, then stir in the canned tomatoes, honey, vinegar and some salt. Turn the heat to medium and bring to the boil, then mix in the pork, onions and cherry tomatoes. When the mixture boils, lower the heat, cover the pan with the lid and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Put the covered pan in the oven and cook until the meat is very tender, stirring every 30 minutes. It usually takes at least two hours to cook.

Use chopsticks or tongs to remove the meat from the pan. Simmer the remaining ingredients over a medium-low flame, stirring often, until the sauce is reduced enough to thickly coat a wooden spoon. Skim off as much fat as possible.

While the sauce is reducing, use forks to pull the hot meat into thick shreds; if using the skin, cut it into small dice. After reducing the sauce, put the pulled pork (and skin, if using) back into the pan and heat until simmering. Season with pepper then taste the ingredients and adjust the seasonings, if needed. Stir in a little lemon juice (or add more apple cider vinegar) to make the sauce slightly tangy.

Pile some pulled pork in the bottom half of the slider buns, add the top half of the buns and serve.

For more on cooking and recipes, go to scmp.com/topics/recipes

 

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: A guy thing
Post