Organic shoulder pork chop

Pretty hard to find organic pork in Ireland, and this is my favourite chop, on the shoulder and not rib chop, darker red and more fatty meat. Simple season with salt and pepper then grill on bbq, delicious and can taste the meat.

Low temperature cooked pork loin

Bought in Toryhill House organic farm, the only cut available, bought it even though it is not my favourite cut, too lean. Decided to cover with olive oil, add salt, pepper, and mix herbs, at 65˚C in the oven, for an hour until cooked through. Still dry but at least tender and fragrant. 

 The oil is kept for later cooking uses.  

Evening light

Have a good run of sunny days, and weather turns tomorrow. So decided to have bbq in covered courtyard to enjoy an alfresco meal, hear birds sing, and admire the magnificent evening colours. 

 

 

 

Monte Frio Iberico Bellota ham

Our yearly enjoyment, a whole organic ham, a portion a week starting in Spring and finish by Autumn. Beautiful deep red meat with pinkish fat, sweet nutty flavour and not too salty. 

Protein feast

A casual dinner gathering and afterwards friends called it a protein feast! 
Started with mi-cuit foie gras brought from France.
Then slices of Portuguese sausages from Macau.
Grilled NZ lamb chops seasoned with freshly grounded black mustard seed, fenugreek cumin, black pepper and salt. 
Grilled Spanish Iberico pork collar in Char Siu flavor.
Grilled grass fed Australian Black Angus rib steak.
Mixed veg cooked in Air fryer
Black sesame mousse as dessert.

Iberico pork collar

Found this nice cut in the deep freeze in a supermarket, lovely dark red meat with fine streaks of fat. From description, the pigs are kept outdoor in Spain, fed on the last 60 days with a portion of chestnut and acorn from their foraging in the forest. 

I seasoned the chops with a mixture of miso, soy sauce, 5 spices/curry powder, wine, black pepper and honey for a few hours. Then either bbq or cook in air fryer to slightly charred edges, good tender texture and Char Siu like flavour. 

Airfryer pork & okra dish

It is fun to prepare dishes with this glass air fryer, not just fast but also easy to see when it is ready.

This is Iberia pork rib meat, seasoned with salt, pepper, 5 spices powder for a couple hours, place on top of okra, cut into pieces, and seasoned with salt. 

Air fry for 12 minutes, then rest in the remaining heat for another couple of minutes, mix well and serve. 

Steam pork head meat with pumpkin

For the remaining meat strip off from pig head, the real pork cheeks, neck muscles and tongue, I seasoned for a day with salt, pepper and 5 spices powder, then steam for an hour on top of pumpkin. All the meats are tender, pumpkin sweet and broth tasty. 

Air fry pork neck on cauliflower

13 minutes in the air fryer and a simple meal is ready! First season pork neck meat with salt pepper and 5 spices powder for a couple hours. Place on top of cauliflower florets (shaken with salt for half an hour), air fry for 13 minutes turnover pork neck half way. 
Mix hot cauliflower with homemade pesto sauce and serve with sliced up pork neck. 

Full Irish breakfast quiche

Went to Ballybunion for a walk along the coast, and found a coffee shop for a simple lunch. This quiche looks great and is tasty, with egg, bits of sausage, black pudding, bacon, mushroom and tomato. First time to see this creation and a good idea, piping hot, and no need to eat a lot of bread.

BBQ ribs and wings

In order to enjoy summer evenings at the lake chalet, bought ribs and chicken wings to cook on the barbecue there. Cooking slowly while enjoying changing lights, bird songs and insect noise.

pork ribs with savory raspberry sauce
season with soy sauce, miso, rice wine, red yeast rice sauce, brown sugar and 5 spices powder

chicken wings
season with salt, black pepper, rice wine and sesame oil

Pork cheek stew

Real pork cheeks, not pork neck as we use to get in Hong Kong. Small pieces of deep red meat that I season like making BBQ pork: soy sauce, ginger, brown sugar, rice wine, red yeast wine and 5 spices powder. 

I cook them in the pan with the sauce for half an hour, just enough to make them tender.

Tofu pate salad

Brought back from Mallorca their local paprika pork pate in a sausage, used it in a salad. Mixed with seared hard tofu, lettuce, red bell pepper and yogurt. No need season as the pate is salty.

Dinner party

Invited friends over for dinner, family with 3 very hungry and happy to taste everything kids, they are so cute.
I see what to harvest from my garden and happy to be able to make 5 veg dishes (all from the garden except carrot)

1.Boiled fresh pea
2.Quick stir fried mangetout served with chive flower
3.Steamed new potato, with olive oil, salt and fresh coriander
4.Steamed artichoke, lemon juice, olive oil, salt, semi-dried cherry tomatoes from last year, and fresh basil
5.Daikon pickled for a day in miso sauce, with carrot

Kids unanimously picked fresh pea as their number 1 favourite, with new potato and mangeout as second.

On the meat side, there is grilled cow tongue, hanger steak beef satay, BBQ pork and lamb chop with rosemary.

To speed up cooking time on bbq and take the stress out to make sure food is properly cooked to the middle, i precooked cow tongue and pork shoulders, in their seasonings, at 65˚C for 2 hours.

BBQ pork marinate  : miso, soy sauce, brown sugar, wine, 5 spices powder, red yeast rice ferment. After low temperature cooking, reduce marinate into a thick sauce, adding honey to round up the flavour. 

Dessert is sticky toffee pudding, with vannila ice cream, finally the kids admit that they are full. 

Slow cooked pork belly with preserved vegetable

Bought preserved vegetable  梅菜 during the trip to Taichung, and finally made a dish using it. Not really the traditional way梅菜扣肉 because I am lazy to deep fry the skin, so just slow cook in a nice sauce, tasty enough for me and the vegetable is fragrant and tasty.

1.Boil whole piece of belly pork for 30 minutes until cooked through. When cool cut into 1/2 cm slices.
2.Soak preserved vegetable until soft.
3.Bring to boil the water from soaked vegetable, add soy sauce, brown sugar, ginger, rice wine and five spices powder. Add pork slice to warm up.
4.In a baking dish, arrange pork slices in spiral/rows.
5.Warm up soaked preserves vegetable and carrot slices in the sauce, add on top of pork and pour sauce to cover all.
6.Wrap with baking paper and aluminium foil, bake at 130˚C until soft, around 2 hours.

Traditional way of life, Rovinj, Croatia

 每年醃漬一隻豬，製作火腿、風乾腸、pancetta，種蔬果, 種橄欖榨油 ……. 克羅地亞的朋友，為了兒女可以見識這傳統生活，持續這些工作。

以他所說，上一代家家如此，他這一代，只有一成人在做，將來，不寄望兒女會繼續，但起碼，經歷過。