Economy Gastronomy Pork Shoulder - Take Two

First I'd like to share a tip that I picked up from 'Come Dine with Me' on Channel Four. I like to wash my meat before I cook it but my SIL pointed out that there is the real possibility of spraying diluted raw meat juices all round your sink area. Hmmm. Then I saw a contestant on the show who's parents came from Jamaica. Her mother always soaked her meat in either acidulated or salted water. I reasoned that because of the climate of the West Indies, practices would have been developed to ensure food safety, particularly with pork and chicken. So now that's what I do. Just a tablespoon or two of cooking salt in the bottom of the bowl, dissolved in enough water to cover the meat, then leave to soak while you prepare the other ingredients and allow the oven to heat up.

My adaptations of this recipe begin almost at once. I kept the onions (food parcel), garlic (home grown), olive oil (not extra virgin), chili flakes, salt and pepper but used dried mixed herbs as I didn't have any oregano and my rosemary plant is too tiny to harvest. Other than that I followed the recipe to the next step when I substituted home-made pear wine for the tomatoes.

There's nothing wrong with the pear wine, it's perfectly drinkable, it's just we have loads of it. I had to throw away alot of the tomato sauce last time and that is unacceptable. I followed the rest of the recipe to the end, cooling all quickly and storing in the fridge. As planned, we had sticky ribs and stir fried veg and noodles for tea on Saturday. I adapted the recipe for the ribs again by using white wine vinegar 'cos that's all I had, adding two generous dessert spoons of homemade plum jam to get the richness and colour right and using 1/2 tsp of chili powder instead of the chili sauce. The kids don't mind spicy food but are less tolerant of it than either DH or myself and DH adds chili sauce to everything anyway.

Also as planned, yesterday, we had cold pork with mash made with (food parcel) potatoes, carrots and gravy. I made the gravy with the juices poured from the cooking tin. Overnight in the fridge, the fat had floated to the surface and when I carefully scraped it away, the liquid underneath had turned to jelly. I admit that I am still on a massive culinary learning curve and I'm ashamed of my squeamishness, but it really didn't look appetising and the old me would have binned it. I remembered the adverts for stock pots on the telly and steeled myself to at least try to do something with it. So I spooned what looked like an acceptable portion into a saucepan and heated it gently. It returned to liquid. Encouraged by this, I strained it through a fine sieve and returned it to the pan. I added a spoon of cornflour, brought it to the boil and then simmered for about ten minutes. It was lovely and we've all lived to tell the tale! I really must research how to preserve safely the leftover 'jelly'. I allowed 4ozs/100g of meat per person but DD said she didn't want so much next time. Portion control is still a work in progress. Clean plates again and no waste. Result.

Today we are having chip butties for lunch (well we are on holiday : ) ) and sweet and sour pork with stir fried veg and noodles for tea. It will be touch and go whether there will be enough for both sandwiches and dinner tomorrow but it will be clearer after I've cooked later.

Until next time x