Schezuan Plum Pork using Brined Pork

 

I read in Michael Ruhlman's book that brining meat is a good thing to do.  I do have trouble getting lean cuts of pork tender so I decided to give it a go.  

 

 

To brine the pork, I salted it with sea salt and then put it into a container and just covered it with water.  I also added some white peppercorns, yellow mustard seeds, a bay leaf and some Thai fish sauce.  I didn't have time to brine it for very long – just under 3 hours.

I then cut the pork up into pieces and made this Schezuan Plum Pork in much the same way I would make any Schezuan (or is it Sichuan?) dish.

First I fried off a little red curry paste in coconut milk and then added freshly ground Sichuan pepper and coriander seeds.  At this stage I also put in ½ tsp of tamarind paste (for the sour element), some grated ginger and some fish sauce.  

Then in went the pork followed by some maple syrup and ¼ cup of plum sauce (the sweet elements)

My apologies for the lack of food styling.  My better half kindly put the pork into the serving dish and did not faff about trying to make it look pretty. 

The verdict on the brining – well the pork was ok but not sensationally tender – I'll give it another go with a longer brining time and maybe a bit more salt.