Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for sticky soy-glazed pork with pickled cucumber.
Jan 04, 2015 1:00pmBy
- 45 mins preparation
- 1 hr 30 mins cooking plus drying, resting, pickling
- Serves 10 - 12
While ham might be the traditional form of pork served at Christmas, this Asian-flavoured loin adds a new spin. With crunchy crackling and a super-tangy, quick cucumber pickle, it ticks all the boxes in terms of flavour and texture. Better still, you can cook it a couple of hours ahead if you like - it's as good at room temperature as it is straight from the oven. Start a day ahead to dry out the pork skin.
Ingredients
- 2.2 kg piece of pork loin, skin on
- 100 gm ginger
- 4 garlic cloves
- 100 ml each dark soy sauce, fish sauce and lime juice
- 100 gm raw caster sugar
- 2 birdseye chillies, finely chopped (or to taste)
- 6 spring onions, trimmed to the length of the pork
- For rubbing: grapeseed oil
- 250 ml (1 cup) chicken stock
Pickled cucumber
- 50 ml each lime juice, fish sauce and rice vinegar
- 1½ tbsp raw caster sugar
- 2 Lebanese cucumbers, halved, seeds scooped out, thickly sliced
- 2 golden shallots, thinly sliced
- ½ garlic clove, finely chopped
Method
Main
1
Carefully score pork at 1cm intervals, cutting partway into the fat, but not into the flesh. Place loin skin-side up on a wire rack in a roasting pan and pour on boiling water until the incisions open up, tipping the water out of the pan so it doesn’t touch the flesh.
2
Coarsely chop half the ginger and bruise half the garlic, then, in a roasting pan large enough to hold pork snugly, combine with soy sauce, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. Place pork, skin-side up in marinade, then refrigerate uncovered (this helps dry out the skin) to marinate (overnight).
3
Preheat oven to 220C. Remove pork from marinade and pat lightly with paper towels to dry, then place skin-side down on a work surface. Finely grate remaining ginger and garlic, and combine in a bowl with chillies. Rub all over pork flesh, then arrange spring onions lengthways along the centre of the pork and roll to form a cylinder. Tie at intervals with kitchen string to secure, place skin-side up on a wire rack in a roasting pan, rub skin with oil and salt, then add stock to pan and roast until crackling starts to form (30-40 minutes). Reduce oven to 200C and roast, basting occasionally with pan juices, until a meat thermometer reads 63C for medium rare or 71C for medium (45 minutes to 1 hour; or insert the tip of a sharp knife into the centre of the loin through an incision in the crackling for 30 seconds, then touch it against your lip – the knife should feel hot). Remove from pan and rest for 20 minutes, then pour pan juices into a jug and scoop off excess fat.
4
For pickled cucumber, stir lime juice, fish sauce, vinegar and sugar in a bowl to dissolve sugar and season to taste with sea salt. Add cucumber, shallots and garlic, stir to coat well and set aside to pickle (30 minutes). Refrigerate until required. Pickle can be made several hours ahead.
5
See AlsoHealthy Mug Cake Recipe - The Big Man's World ®Lemon Curd-Topped Lemon Cake Recipe | DiethoodCarve pork into thick slices and drizzle with pan juices.
Notes
Drink Suggestion: Perfumed gewürztraminer. Drink suggestion by Max Allen
The Latest from Gourmet Traveller
Entertaining10 masterful cookware sets for the discerning home chef
Mar 27, 2024
Restaurant NewsThe Sanderson is launching a monthly co*cktail-pairing degustation
Mar 22, 2024
Drinks NewsHow to make a Blackberry Buck co*cktail
Mar 22, 2024
Travel NewsFour domestic and international flight sales worth checking out tonight
Mar 22, 2024
Travel NewsFive reasons to road-test the new GWM Haval H6GT coupe SUV
Mar 21, 2024
CruisesCunard’s culinary cruise itinerary for 2025 is as deliciously exclusive as you’d expect
Mar 21, 2024
Restaurant ReviewsLola's: Restaurant review
Mar 21, 2024
Crustacean crash course: A guide to the types of crustaceans to know
Mar 21, 2024
Recipe CollectionsBest hot cross bun recipes for Easter
Mar 21, 2024
Drinks NewsClassic co*cktail: How to make a Manhattan
Mar 21, 2024
Restaurant NewsThe best new restaurants and bars in Melbourne
Mar 21, 2024
Recipe CollectionsRecipes for the ultimate Easter lunch feast
Mar 20, 2024
Destinations16 best Maldives resorts for an island getaway in 2024
Mar 20, 2024
Restaurant News10 impressive Brisbane restaurants to book when visitors are in town
Mar 19, 2024
Restaurant NewsThe best new restaurants and bars in Sydney
Mar 19, 2024
Supersize Me: The future of dining out in Australia
Mar 19, 2024
DestinationsBalearic beauty: Where to eat, drink and stay on Menorca Island, Spain
Mar 19, 2024
Chefs' RecipesMassimo Mele's lemon-scented goat meatballs
Mar 18, 2024
Recipe Collections40 best fish recipes for Good Friday, Easter and beyond
Mar 18, 2024