When I started to seriously get into cooking, I mostly taught myself by recreating my favorite takeout dishes. It was a low risk, high reward way to figure things out. So other day when I had a craving for some White Boy Special (General Tso’s Chicken w/ pork fried rice) I decided to check what I had available and make it at home instead. After checking my fridge, I switched it up and did a General Tso’s/chili black bean/Sichuan-style thing.
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This recipe seems elaborate, but it was actually the result of a bunch of leftovers from other recipes. The pork butt was purchased for porchetta (at work), the dashi, pork skin jus & Japanese mustard greens for pork ramen (at my leisure). Looking at these ingredients, I decided to give a classic Philly sandwich a try: roast pork & bitter greens on a seeded roll. The flavor profile has shifted East and the provolone has been omitted in favor of a slightly richer, more flavorful gravy for the pork but this is otherwise pretty straightforward. Totally satisfying lunch.
N.B. The pork skin jus is an adaptation from The Art of Living According to Joe Beef: A Cookbook of Sorts. For my money, it was the best cookbook released in 2011 and it has been a great source of inspiration in the kitchen.
Read the rest of this entry » «Japanese Roast Pork Sandwich»
I recently made a trip to the Kensington neighborhood of Philly in search of some mad authentic Polish food. Relevant to this recipe are my stops at Krakus Market for perogies and Czerw’s Kielbasy for spicy pork sausage. (If you dig perogies or smoked meats, these are the hottest spots in town.) Being the new year and all, I felt pressure from my Polish grandmother to eat the traditional meal of pork & sauerkraut, so I opted for sauerkraut-filled perogies but feel free to use a cheese/potato variety.
N.B. It might be less than obvious but this recipe also comes out of Rustic Italian Food‘s chicken liver, sage & rigatoni dish (mentioned last week). As with the dan dan digression, most of the inspiration comes out of the technique in the original recipe rather than the flavor profile.
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