Recipes, blah blah, marinade for 2 hours, blah blah, preferably overnight, blah blah, just enough time to get the flavour in, blah blah.
I'm telling you now, leave it for three days and you'll really see where depth of flavour comes from.
As for a recipe, here's the time when you can let your senses be your guide, the touch, smell and look added to the taste is all the quantity directives needed, really.
I had some pretty lean pork loin, which does need a little assistance unless it's going to be basted with copious amounts of fat, so maybe the three day thing also worked particularly well for a cut of meat that may otherwise have come out a touch on the dry and chewy side of affairs.
It's no secret that the Thai way of balancing flavours is one of the darlings of the global kitchen, and a massive favourite of mine in a way that it is more often than not cobbled together through trial, error and success. I've had charcoal grilled pork neck in Bangkok where I am reasonably sure that I have NEVER tasted barbecued meat so perfect, so innocently prepared, aggressively seasoned, moist, juicy, tender, and still shimmering with perfectly suspended internal strokes of fat.
My pork sat in a happy bath of soy, fish sauce, red and green chilli, bashed lemongrass, galangal, shallots, lime juice and rice vinegar. Dry roasted in a pan with a lid on after the colour was achieved for no more than 10 minutes, rested then sliced and folded back through the marinade which was tipped into the roasting pan and brought to the boil before being switched off.
A few flecks of fresh red chilli and another squeeze of lime juice was all that was needed to round the show out.
The ever so slightly unconventional bit. Found a great new bakery that's just opened around the corner and the call of their sourdough was way too good to ignore, so a slice of that lightly toasted topped with a crisp shredding of romaine lettuce, smothered with the meat and her pokey marinade.
One more squeeze of lime atop my open sandwich of sorts and my work here is well and truly complete.
I'm telling you now, leave it for three days and you'll really see where depth of flavour comes from.
As for a recipe, here's the time when you can let your senses be your guide, the touch, smell and look added to the taste is all the quantity directives needed, really.
I had some pretty lean pork loin, which does need a little assistance unless it's going to be basted with copious amounts of fat, so maybe the three day thing also worked particularly well for a cut of meat that may otherwise have come out a touch on the dry and chewy side of affairs.
It's no secret that the Thai way of balancing flavours is one of the darlings of the global kitchen, and a massive favourite of mine in a way that it is more often than not cobbled together through trial, error and success. I've had charcoal grilled pork neck in Bangkok where I am reasonably sure that I have NEVER tasted barbecued meat so perfect, so innocently prepared, aggressively seasoned, moist, juicy, tender, and still shimmering with perfectly suspended internal strokes of fat.My pork sat in a happy bath of soy, fish sauce, red and green chilli, bashed lemongrass, galangal, shallots, lime juice and rice vinegar. Dry roasted in a pan with a lid on after the colour was achieved for no more than 10 minutes, rested then sliced and folded back through the marinade which was tipped into the roasting pan and brought to the boil before being switched off.
A few flecks of fresh red chilli and another squeeze of lime juice was all that was needed to round the show out.
The ever so slightly unconventional bit. Found a great new bakery that's just opened around the corner and the call of their sourdough was way too good to ignore, so a slice of that lightly toasted topped with a crisp shredding of romaine lettuce, smothered with the meat and her pokey marinade.
One more squeeze of lime atop my open sandwich of sorts and my work here is well and truly complete.
