We’re now back from Spain after a hectic month of family, friends and house repairs. Some good times and some sad times but that’s life isn’t it? Back in Bexhill for the moment and life is taking on a gentler pace for the next couple of weeks. That’s good as far as we’re concerned!
A gentler pace means time for slow cooking. I seem to have been rather enthusiastic about my passion for the slow cooker as my best pal Ria decided she wanted to give one a go, so I bought her a slow cooker for Christmas. My mum then decided that she’d join in so bought a slow cooker too. We’re all at it – slow cooking with passion and exchanging recipes. Not a bad way to enjoy food, especially when we’re able to share the results of our experimenting with each other.
Here’s a great recipe which works equally well in the oven or the slow cooker. It takes very little preparation and after the required number of hours you’re rewarded with a dish which looks and tastes as though you’ve done something very cheffy and clever.
Ingredients to serve 4-6
- 2 finely chopped or grated garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp finely chopped ginger
- 2 tbsp runny honey
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp mirin (use sweet sherry otherwise)
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
- a bones and rolled pork shoulder (about 1kg/2lb in weight)
- Steamed or boiled rice and chopped spring onions to serve
Put the garlic, ginger, honey, soy sauce, mirin, oil and five spice powder in a large bowl and mix. Add the pork to the bowl and coat it in the sauce.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, overnight if possible.
When you are ready to cook, bring the pork to room temperature. Put into an ovenproof dish with a lid or into a slow cooker. In a conventional oven, cook at Gas Mark 3 for about 4 hours, If you find it is drying out, add a small glass of water. In the slow cooker cook on high for 6 hours or low for 10 hours until the meat is very tender (you won’t need to add any additional liquid in the slow cooker).
Slice the meat and shred lightly to serve. Pour over any cooking juices and serve hot with the rice and spring onions.
Leftovers are wonderful cold in sandwiches.
If you’re inspired by this, why not take a look at my twice cooked melting pork?
Chica Andaluza 
Welcome back!
That looks delicious. Those slow cookers are excellent in the winter, when you come home on a cold day and hot food is waiting for you 🙂
They are indeed – so little effort, such great foodie rewards!
Looks like a terrific winter meal! Happy Chinese New Year. Good to see you on the blog
Happy Chinese New Year to you too – am gradually getting back to more regular blogging!
My sister would go mental for this.
Not one for you sadly 😦 But I made a great curry today which I’ll feature soon which was delish and completely vegan!
Curry you say? You are speaking my language Ms Chica 🙂
We aim to please!
OO this looks like something I should try on the wood stove (my version of a slow cooker). wonderful.. c
It would be perfect on the woodstove and I imagine your pork would be pretty first class too!
This particular piggy is VERY tasty!.. c
J
Gosh, everyone has been going on at me about getting a slow cooker. Mr D-F thinks I might burn the house down if I had one. I love the idea of coming home to a warm, delicious meal. Should I go for it?! 🙂
Absolutely – they use very little energy and turn just a few simple ingredients into something amazing! I wouldn’t be without mine now 🙂
Looks delicious. My slow cooker is ancient! I will have to make more use of it as it has found its way to the back of the cupboard. This is on the list!
I bought one a couple of years back when I was temporarily without a cooker – it was love at first slow roast!
Nothing quite like it for a beef brisket!
Absolutely J
Lovely recipe and. like Celi, methinks my ‘try’ will be made on the stovetop also. Living alone do not usually buy this particular cut of meat but thinking of all the ways I could use the ‘leftovers’ have no hesitation in trying it out 🙂 ! Hope the English winter has seen the worst of this season . . .
Yes, it’s a large cut of meat so you’d be eating leftovers for much longer than you’d probably want to! We don’t seem to have it too cold here right now – the coast always seems a bit milder so we’re lucky J
Fabulous recipe and what a great trip you had.
Thank you 🙂
With the weather you are having, slow cooked comfort food is perfect. I’m also looking at getting a slow cooker 😀
Can’t recommend it enough! And bizarrely I think it would be good for your very hot summers when you don’t want to put the oven on and heat up the house, but still fancy a soup or a light casserole type dish.
This looks so, so delicious. I love Asian style pork, it’s been a long while since I’ve eaten it (I don’t have much meat these days) but you’ve made me want to cook another batch! Happy new year, glad that you had a lovely trip to Spain! xx
Thank you for your lovely comment – Big man is a dedicated meat eater, I enjoy it but eat it less often. This was a great dish for us as it wasn’t in “portions” and a good one for sharing!
I have been saying for the longest time I want a slow cooker and my aunt keeps offering me hers to try first and well, we just never get any further than just talking about it. This dish has me salivating! Divine Tania.
Have a beautiful day and weekend ahead.
🙂 Mandy xo
Tell your aunt you’ll foster her slow cooker for a while then if it goes well you can adopt it on a permanent basis!
looks much like coffè ala jakarta, really?
seems delicious food once, I feel like to taste it
Looks mouth watering. Pork is fabulous slow cooked.
Oh I love this recipe! And serving it with rice makes so much sense. Is runny honey something different?
We can buy both set honey which is more solid and not transparent and runny honey which is clear and easy to spoon out of the jar. I know that runny honey goes solid when it gets really cold and can be made runny again by gently heating but don’t know what makes the other honey solid to start with. Will have to investigate!
No need to convince me of the joys of slow cooking, Tanya, and pork does exceptionally well in one. Marinating the meat overnight, though, raises the bar with this dish. That must be one very flavorful piece of pork, made ever so tender by the 10 hour cook. I bet your house smelt wonderful. I hope you left the house for the last few hours or you put yourself through torture. 🙂
Glad to hear that things have quieted a bit. May that continue.
Thanks for the good wishes John. All good here now. The pork was excellent and I agree that marinating it overnight really makes the difference. We came back from Spain with spices to make chorizo sausages so Big Man’s sausage maker he received for Christmas will be the next pork experiment in our house!
This looks so invitingly delicious. I have been debating about a slow cooker. I have one from the 70’s (a crock pot) and have been afraid to use it for years, but seem to be unable to get rid of it or buy a new one. With more and more tempting recipes utilizing slow cookers, I think I may have to pull the trigger soon. This pork is going on the list to make! Hope all is well in your world now.
All good now thanks! I am rather addicated to using my slow cooker so can’t recommend one highly enough 🙂
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This looks so amazingly yummy. I will have to try it. Your blog is terrific. Cheers, Michele
Thanks for your kind words Michele!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Will have to go out and get a pork shoulder tomorrow!
Enjoy it if you make it!
I’ve definitely got to buy a new slow cooker as I sold my old one when we moved. Your chinese style pork sounds delicious. I’m glad you are getting a chance to slow down for a bit but knowing the two of you, it won’t last long. 🙂
Well…..we do like to have a challenge to look forward to! I am so hooked on using my slow cooker now I wouldn’t be without it ☺
cold rain like this seems like a scrumptious meal while warm, is not it ???
With the weather you are having, slow cooked comfort food is perfect. I can’t wait to try this recipe. Very interested
Yes, slow cooked food is perfect for the winter weather!
Ho Chica! Just the other I spotted slow cookers at el corte ingles and thought about buying one. But I don’t know the pros about spending all that time cooking! Hehehe, sorry. But I’m sure now you are going to argue its advantages in such a convincing way that I’ll be at el corte ingles first thing in the morning!!
How funny – I’ve never seen them in Spain. I think they’re good for cooking ollas and in the summer when you can’t bear to put the oven on they also have an advantage in that they don’t heat up the house. You’re not actually having to do much work – just a quick prep of the ingredients and then you let the cooker do its thing!
Entonces empezaré a ahorrar… 😉
good article, I like it
Sounds fabulous, Tanya! I dropped the lid of my slow cooker and it shattered on the kitchen floor. 😦 Might have to be an oven job 🙂
😦 I think you can buy replacements but you’d probably have to buy the bowl insert too …would oroabbly be cheaper to buy the while thing new!
That’s what I thought 😦
Hmmm… a friend just got a slow cooker and I think I’ll point her at this! (hint hint…) Mmmmm!!
I like this food. Maybe i must try this recipe.
good artikel, and i’m very like that food.
Wow,..amazing
i am very like cooking, but in my religion pork be forbidden
The food seemed tasty at all, if the pork could be replaced with beef or chicken?, because I do not eat pork.
I am sure you could use other meats!
i like it 🙂
wow looks like tasty…
look so tasty but I was not used to eating pork.
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