Post # 15 “Lorraine’s Pork Roast”
The next few posts will deal with pork (other than chops, bacon, or ham).
Lorraine’s Pork Roast
This chinese recipe can be as good a source of conversation as it is a good entree. It can also act as a hot or cold hors d’oeuvre. It is a favorite in Lorraine’s household.
The recipe calls for “saltpeter.” Saltpeter is potassium nitrate. It’s chemical formula is KNO3. When it is dissolved in a small amount of water and brushed onto pork, it “cures” the meat, altering the meat’s composition. This is manifested visually by the color of the meat turning a brighter red than the natural color of pork. Asian markets call saltpeter “Curing Salt”. It is not easy to find. A butcher in an Asian market said to me, “Currently it is illegal to sell saltpeter over the meat counter.”
Now, why should this be? Let’s just say, “we don’t know.” If you attempt to run this down on the internet, you are going to spend a lot of time on
a very complex problem with incomplete and often enigmatic answers. You will most likely end up with more confusion than wisdom. Saltpeter is a major component of gunpowder, the other major ingredients being charcoal and sulfur. And there are complicated reactions that may occur in some food-curing situations whereby potential carcinogens are generated. If any of you know this field, please enlighten us.
I can say this. If you are persistent in searching for saltpeter among chinese food markets, you can find it as “Curing Salt.”
Now that we have our saltpeter, here is Lorraine’s recipe for Roast Pork:
Ingredients:
4 pounds boneless pork (Butt-cut) – have the butcher cut into 5 x 2 x 1″ slices
Curing mixture:
1 tablespoon saltpeter
1/4 cup sugar
Basting mixture:
1/4 cup of honey (or pancake syrup)
1 teaspoon of table salt
Meat marinade:
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons of table salt
1 tablespoon of white, dry table wine
1/2 teaspoon of “five-spice” powder (available in asian sections of stores)
1/2 teaspoon of MSG (mono-sodium-glutamate) – optional
Preparation:
Cure the pork overnight:
dissolve 1 teaspoon saltpeter in 2 tablespoons of water – brush on meat
rub meat with 1/4 cup sugar
refrigerate overnight
Marinate the meat for 1 hour
Roast and baste the pork:
Step 1: Pour 1 cup of water into roasting pan
put in meat rack to elevate meat above water surface
arrange pork on the meat rack
roast at 350 degrees for 30 minutes
turn meat over and roast for 30 minutes more
Step 2: set oven to “broil”
baste meat with the honey-salt mixture
broil for 5 minutes
turn meat over
baste meat with the honey-salt mixture
broil for 5 minutes more
Voila! You are done! Let meat cool 10 minutes before slicing.
