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the goods for the marinade: 2 tblspns chopped fresh ginger 6 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped 2 tblspns dried shrimp 2 tblspns hoisin sauce 1 tspn Asian sesame oil 1/4 cup coconut vinegar (any pale vinegar) 1/4 cup honey 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 tspn sambal olek (chili paste) or 1 minced chili 1 tblspn fish sauce for the stuffing: 3 links Chinese sausage (about 1/2 cup chopped) 8 oz can water chestnuts, drained
6 shallots, chopped (including the green tops) 4-6 shitake mushrooms (reconstituted if using dried)
3.5 - 4 lb pork butt 3-4 star anise you will need:
time: 20 minutes active, 2 days marinating
4-5 hours roasting
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Chinese style roasted, stuffed pork butt
This is one of those dishes that came out of the
oven, smelling,
looking and tasting as good as I'd hoped. Everyone at the table indulged my proud "I made this!" expression as they busied themselves with getting a second helping. This is also a recipe which brings out the adolescent sniggers in me: Pork butt (snigger), stuffed with sausage (snigger) and shitake (snigger, snigger). But there is no other way to describe it; pork butt is possibly the best bit of the beast. Perfect for a slow, steady roasting. The stuffing and marinade added so much flavour; the pan juices made the most unbelieveable sauce. We were fighting over it! Served simply with some rice and steamed vegetables. This was a winner. Mix all the marinade ingredients and blend into a paste. I prefer using my handheld immersion blender, but anything will do.
Place the pork
butt fat side down onto a cutting board. It should be
vaguely rectangular in shape. You need to double
butterfly it: slice lengthways, through the meat almost
to the fat . Part the flesh and then butterfly each
side by slicing lengthways again along each side. Be
careful not to cut too far through the meat. Spread the marinade all over the meat and place it in a dish, pour the excess marinade over the meat, cover and refrigerate overnight, up to 2 days.
Remove meat
from fridge 2 hours before cooking. Peel the skin off the sausage links and dice them. Chop the shallots, shitake and water chestnuts. Mix together. Pre heat oven to 400f
Cut three
lengths of string, each about 18 inches long, and place
them across a cutting board, spaced about 6 inches
apart. Place the pork butt, fat side down over the cutting board and open it out so that the meat is spread out. Spread the stuffing along the middle of the pork, then roll the two sides back up. Secure by tying the three pieces of string; one at each end of the meat and one in the middle. Place tied pork butt into an oven pan, fat side up, and pour every bit of marinade over it. Tuck a star anise under each bit of string, kind of studded into the fat.
Roast at 400f
for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 300f and cook for
about 4 hours, basting only a couple of times. The
roast will be a rich, dark colour. If you feel that it
is burning, reduce the heat to 275f Remove from oven, cover with foil and let stand 20 minutes
Pour the pan
juices into a fat separator to skim the fat and serve
the juices as a side sauce. If you do not have a fat
separator, then tilt the pan, pour off as much fat as
you can and then pour the juices into a serving
jug. Serve with steamed rice (I used brown) and some cabbage, snow peas, shitake and bok choi which have been steamed and tossed through some sesame or peanut oil.
leftovers: buy
a packet of potsticker / wan ton / gyoza
wrappers. Blend the chopped up pork leftovers, some of
the cabbage and rice into a rough paste and make some
potstickers. Heat a little peanut oil in a skillet, add
the potstickers, cover and fry for 2-3 minutes, then
add a few tablespoons of chicken stock, cover and steam
2-3 minutes. Serve with steamed green beans and a
dipping sauce made from soy sauce, chili paste and
chopped ginger.
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