Just before the weekend, all readers who cook ask themselves this eternal question: what are we going to eat? To inspire you, The Press suggests a recipe that will make your mouth water.
For 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 lb (900 g) pork loin with rind
- Peanut oil, for cooking
- 8 cloves of garlic in its skin
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) sugar
- 2 tsp (10 ml) salt
- 2/3 cup toasted or store-bought rice flour
Preparation
- 1. Cut the pork loin in half.
- 2. Pour a drizzle of oil into a Dutch oven heated over medium heat, add the garlic cloves and the pork pieces, and turn them in the oil a few times, without browning.
- 3. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking uncovered for 45 minutes, turning the ingredients regularly. The pork should be well cooked, and the garlic, melting.
- 4. Separate the rind from the meat, cut everything into long strands, place them in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
- 5. Extract the garlic from the cloves, puree and place in a bowl. Add the sugar, salt and toasted rice flour, pepper and mix well. Pour the garlic puree over the pork strands and mix well.
- 6. Serve the bì in a bowl of vermicelli, herbs, diluted fish sauce and pickled vegetables. Add chilli to taste.
Ingredients for Diluted Fish Sauce
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) sugar
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) water
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) fish sauce
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) lime juice or vinegar
Preparation of diluted fish sauce
Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir until sugar is completely dissolved. Keeps for one month in the refrigerator.
Some tips
Rice vermicelli
There are almost as many types of vermicelli as there are dishes. One constant, however, for perfect cooking: you must first immerse them in a pot of cold water, turn on the heat, then turn it off as soon as it boils. Depending on the size of the vermicelli, wait between 3 and 7 minutes to obtain the desired consistency before draining and rinsing with cold water.
Fine herbs
“If I had to choose one word to describe Vietnamese cuisine, I would choose freshness,” Kim Thúy writes in her book. Herbs, which are served with almost every dish, contribute to this freshness. Mint, coriander, Thai or Vietnamese basil: the more, the better. Everything is served raw, without dressing, salt or oil.
Cooking meat
Cooking pork for bì is very delicate and demanding, Kim Thúy explains. “You have to cook the meat in big blocks, slowly, so that it doesn’t roast or boil, and it doesn’t toughen. So you have to stay next to it the whole time and watch the fire. It’s mentally retarded!”
Source: recipe from the book The secret of Vietnamese womenKim Thúy Éditions Trécarré, 194 pages.
Published on lapresse.ca on December 19, 2017.