by Chef Waka of bushi-tei

One of Japantown’s premier restaurants, bushi-tei offers fine dining by Chef Waka. Today’s recipe is a pork dish where the flavor of apples suits the fattiness of the pork. This is a convenient dish because you can make a lot of boiled pork and if you store it in its juices, it will keep for three weeks. Try making it at home today!

Ingredients (for two people):
Pork back or pork chuck 400g
Lard (or butter) a bit
French mustard (Dijon) 2 tbsp.
Olive oil (or salad oil) 2 tbsp.
Red apple 1
Butter (for baked apples) a bit

Spice mixture: Bay leaves (6), sage leaves (4), one large celery stick with leaves still attached, salt (2 tsp. per 1 liter of water), and 1 tbsp. of pepper.

Directions:

(1) Put the meat in a pot and then pour in water until the meat is just peeking out of it (about 1.5 liters) and then put in all the spice mixture/ingredients. Cover and boil the meat for about two hours until it becomes soft.

(2) Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces and drain out the water. Heat the lard in a frying pan and pan-fry the pork until the surface of it turns brown. (Because the fat loosens and floats when the meat is boiled, this fat can be used in place of the lard.)

(3) Mix the olive oil with the mustard and when it becomes smooth, the sauce is ready.

(4) Cut the apple into four pieces with its skin as is. Take out the core, lay the pieces on a baking sheet with butter and bake until well-browned. (These can also be pan-fried with the lid on. In this case, flip the apples occasionally.)

Point!

The bay leaves (laurier) used when boiling the pork have a preserving effect. When storing pork cover the pork well with lots of bay leaves. Using lots of bay leaves in other dishes like stews also helps and these will keep longer before spoiling.