Paper Chef #23 Drunken Pickled Pork

Drunken pickled pork
750 g pickled pork
350 g pork rind
1 cup dried cranberries
4 cups vermouth
2 teaspoon whole mountain pepperberries
4 bay leaves
2 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
1 teaspoon salt, optional
1 tablespoon sugar
1 onion, quartered

Soak the pickled pork in water for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly. Combine 3 of the 4 cups of vermouth and all the ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hours until the rind turns gelatinous.

Remove the pickled pork and put in an air tight container with the remaining cup of vermouth. Refrigerate for 2 days before use. Remove the pork from the vermouth marinade when serving.

Strain the cooking liquid. Discard the spent onion, bay leaves and star anise. Save the mountain pepperberries as garnishes if so wish. The rind may be cut into thin strips and eaten like cold jelly fish. The cranberries pulp goes into a sorbet for the next course.

Pour the strained cooking liquid into tall 3 glasses. Cool in the fridge overnight. Skim off the fat for future use in dishes asking for lard. Use the jellied stock as a jelly with the drunken pickled pork dish and in the following ravioli dish.

Sparkling apple granita
Put 2 cups of chilled sparkling apple juice in an ice-cream maker and churned according to manufacturer's instruction. The granita can be made 2-3 days in advance.

Salad
1 cup of jellied stock (from cooking the pickled pork)
4-8 baby cos leaves
2 tablespoon chilled poached dried cranberries
1 tablespoon salted nasturtium pods (homemade from wild plants)
1 tablespoon glaced Australian desert limes
mountain pepperberries for garnish (save from cooking the pork)

Melt 1 cup of the jellied stock in the microwave and pour into a shallow tray. Chill until ready for serving. Cut into cubes just before plating up. This jellied stock may be used warm and melted as a dressing.

To assemble the dish, line a stemmed glass with baby cos leaves. Put in some jelly, chilled poached cranberries, desert limes, mountain pepper berries and salted nasturtium pods. Add a few 0.5 cm slices of drunken pickled pork. Top with sparkling apple granita. Serve immediately.

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