Sweet and sour pork shoulder

If, like me, you grew up in Britain, you probably lived within a very short distance of a Chinese takeaway. If you were anything like my family, this takeaway would provide meals for the family on a fairly regular basis. We're not talking about mediocre meals, either. The weekly, fortnightly or monthly Chinese takeaway meal would be something to look forward to with eager anticipation.

For my family, it would be beef curry, that Chinese style curry, different to an Indian dish, special fried rice with huge pieces of barbecued pork, chicken and a fried egg on top, and chips, of course. Later we discovered spare ribs, crispy chicken with beansprouts, chow mein and sweet and sour chicken. This last dish in particular was a favourite. The chicken was battered, deep fried and served with a sauce so red, it must have been saturated with food colouring. The batter would shatter under your teeth to reveal a small nugget of juicy, seasoned chicken breast. The sauce was tangy, sweet and full of chunks of pineapple, green pepper and onion. Even today, when I visit my parents in their home town, I cannot wait for this feast. 

I now know that it is probably not good for my body, being saturated with oil, carbohydrates and processed with preservatives, but it reminds me of being younger, spending time with my parents and it tastes really, really good. Some people would probably say it doesn't, how could I possibly like something so full of sweet, artificial sauces and saturated fats? They would probably say it doesn't taste authentic or that a Chinese person would never actually eat it...I don't care. I am not a food snob, I love lots of different things, from a 5 star pasta dish with lobster and truffle to a packet of big brand chips, lime and chili flavour maybe. Food is food, there's a reason certain things are so popular; they taste good. Enjoy in moderation, and it's OK and you know what, it's OK to say you do.

So, the picture at the top of the post and below looks nothing like the sweet and sours of my childhood and adolescence. The pineapple, green pepper and onion is there, but the chicken is pork and the sauce is anything but gloopy and colourful. But, this is how sweet and sour from scratch with no cornstarch or food colouring looks. The idea came from a packet of pork shoulder,  labelled, (rather assumingly I thought), as sweet and sour pork shoulder. I'm not going to argue with that, so I started looking for recipes and I came across this site. The recipe and pictures for this dish looked so much better than mine, (I'll have to use red pepper next time, green just looks insipid), and I adapted the recipe slightly to suit what I had available, but the general basics are the same. Check out the rest of the site, it's great.

Recipe : Sweet and sour pork shoulder

1 lb pork shoulder, cubed (they may be lots of fat, that's OK, it's going to cook for a long time).

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, seeded and diced (or use orange or red if you want a prettier finished dish).

1 carrot, peeled and diced

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped small

1 inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped small

1 chili pepper, seeded and sliced

3/4 cup pineapple juice

1/4 cup white wine or cider vinegar

10 tsp sugar (brown is best for this) (I used sweetener to lower the carb count)

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Chinese wine or dry sherry

1/4 tsp salt

2 star anise (optional)

1 piece cinnamon stick (optional)

1/4 cup pineapple chunks

6 mushrooms, halved

Place everything except pineapple chunks and mushrooms into either a slow cooker or a heavy based pan.

If using a slow cooker, cook on medium or low for about 5 - 6 hours by which time the meat should be falling apart, almost gelatinous. Reduce the sauce if it's still very liquid by rapidly boiling in a pan over high heat or adding 2 tsp cornstarch mixed with some cooking juice until blended and returned to the pan. Stir and cook for a few minutes to cook out the raw flour taste and serve the sauce poured over the meat and vegetables.

If using a pan, bring everything to the boil, cover, reduce heat to low - medium and cook, checking regularly until the meat is very soft and the liquid thickened, (about 4 hours, but whenever you're satisfied is good).

For both methods, add the pineapple chunks and mushrooms 30 minutes before the end of cooking time.

As you can see in the picture above, I served mine with some broccolini as I didn't partake in the rice. I suggest you do, lots to mop up the sauce. 

If you want to tweak the sauce at the end, feel free to do so. A little more vinegar or a pinch more sugar maybe, it's your dinner.