The Grilled Pork Neck Dish That I Bring To All Potluck Parties

I don't know how to call this dish... I used to call it sate (or satay - I am not a big fan of this word, Indonesians say SATE!) grilled pork neck because I make it how I make sate, but nobody's convinced because there is no skewering involved, there is no peanut sauce and the end product doesn't look anywhere within 100m radius of sate. So, I see how sate or satay might not be a great name for it :)

So let's just call this the Grilled Pork Neck Dish That Rita Brings To All Potluck Parties. BecauseI really brought this dish to almost every potluck party I attended. People love it (or at least they pretend to), and even if people don't love it - I have no issues finishing it myself. Hehehheh. 

It's very easy to make. Idiot-proof level.

I can't think of easy ways to ruin this dish... except maybe if you're bringing this dish to a party naked, and it is not a nudist party. That will ruin the dish. Sorry - I tend to go off topic like that.

Now, to make this dish.

Recipe

Meat

- Pork neck meat (I usually buy frozen ones from Kai Bo. You can buy fresh if you want), or you can substitute this with thigh chicken fillet with skin on.

(Quantity recommendation: if this is one of the many dishes of a potluck party, 1 big slice of pork neck meat that's available in Kai Bo frozen food shop should be ok for 4 people. If you're treating this as one of the main dishes, then 1 slice serves 2. If you're serving this to a crazy greedy pork-lover, allow 1 per person)

Marinade

- Shallot, thinly sliced (1/2 shallot per 1 slice pork neck)

- Kecap manis (Indonesian sweet soy sauce)

- Soy sauce 

(Ratio of soy sauce : sweet soy sauce = 1 : 3)

- ground nutmeg, ground coriander seeds, cumin

Dipping sauce

- Kecap manis

- Fish sauce (just a dash)

- Lime juice (or lemon juice)  

- Lime wedges or lemon wedges

- A bit of ground nutmeg

- Thinly sliced shallot (just a bit - you can set aside some when slicing shallot for the marinade)

- Chopped fresh chillies (preferably the green birds eye chilli - cabe rawit ftw! or omit if you can't handle the heat)

Mix well & serve in small bowls with the lime or lemon wedges 

How to do

(Ideally prepare the night before serving)

Marinating

Defrost meat if you bought frozen. Pat dry, po ke the meat all over with fork (or meat poke...r?). Place meat in container, add marinade, massage the marinate all over the meat and refrigerate overnight (or a couple hours).

Grilling

Preheat oven to 250C, grill meat until the surface gets nicely caramelized. You can baste with the marinade or make more of the dipping sauce for basting. This normally takes about 40 minutes in my oven.

Charcoal grilling would be awesome too.

When done, slice diagonally and thinly, squeeze lime juice all over it and serve with dipping sauce.

And wait for the crowd to ask you for the recipe ;) 

Grilled Herbed Pork Neck

It's been ______________ since my last confession (can't be bothered trying to remember).
I've been hit by...
...no, not a disco stick.
I've been hit by a lazy stick.

I have not been cooking lately.
When I cooked, it's so simple I couldn't be bothered to take pictures.
When I took pictures, I couldn't be bothered to style it.
I have even been too lazy to try some new and exciting establishments.
This lazy stick, it's gigantic.

This ridiculously simple dish was not a product of my recent sloth.
This was one of the dishes I made when I still had the heart to think of what to cook, cascade the meat beautifully on a little place, took a photograph of it in more than just one "pose", and scattered the ingredients around it as a (desperate) form of "food styling".

Although it's not much, it'd be better than my recent serial local fast food/charchanteng spread.
Please, enjoy.


Ingredients
- 1/2 lb pork neck (rinse, pat dry, leave them whole)
- salt, black pepper, dry mixed herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano)
- additional lemon zest and a bit of lemon juice would be fantastic

Preheat oven to 250C, rub pork neck large pieces with salt, pepper, herbs and lemon zest generously, place them on baking sheet, grill until golden. Take them out of the oven, slice thinly and serve.

Pork neck is really a forgiving meat due to its high fat content, get them a bit charred to get tasty crispy bits. Never worry about overcooking them (but of course not up to the point where all you got is a couple chunks of charcoal). They'll remain juicy.

Serve 'em over salad with some vinaigrette, as appetizer, or as party food...but the way I see it, it tasted amazing with steamed rice :D

A Party Gone Awry

In life, things don't always go according to our plans. This includes a party at my place yesterday.
What happened, or more importantly, what did not happen?

Let's get back to that later. At least the food did happen. Thank God.

I've done just three simple dishes, which were planned, mainly based on which appliances will be used to cook them, so that they could be executed simultaneously. Since one of my guests doesn't eat beef and sous chef is not into chicken, I mainly used pork. You can replace the piggy with something else.

In My Oven
Grilled Pork Neck with Satay Sauce

Marinate
- 7 pieces of pork neck fillet (they shrink a lot, so it's better to buy more)
- 4 shallot, sliced thinly
- dark soy sauce
- fish sauce
- kecap manis (the dominant flavor)
- lemon zest
- 1 tsp ground corriander seed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ground nutmeg (quite a lot of it)
- olive oil

Poke pork neck fillet all over with fork, marinate pork neck fillet for a few hours, or overnight.
To grill, preheat oven to 200C/400F, lightly grease baking sheet lined with aluminium foil (I wasn't planning to scrub anything after the party), lay marinated pork neck fillet in 1 layer, grill until golden brown, baste with marinate when necessary.

Satay Sauce
- Store bought satay sauce
- Freshly chopped corriander leaves
- Fish sauce
- Freshly chopped chilli
- lemon juice, lemon zest

Mix everything together and serve.
This dish can be prepared ahead of time as it reheats well. Simply nuke it before serving.

In My Pressure Cooker
Bakuteh (Pork Stewed in Chinese Spices)

- 1 kg pork shin mixed with pork bone, cut into large chunks
- 4 cloves of garlic
- dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, salt, sugar, white pepper, olive oil, hot water
- bakuteh spice pack (I used Klang Bakuteh spice pack)
- 1 cup fried tofu puffs
- 3 heads of wawa veggie

In the pressure cooker, saute garlic with olive oil, add pork, add dark soy, light soy, add hot water according to spice pack instruction, add salt, sugar, pepper, cook in pressure cooker for 25 minutes. Release pressure, add tofu puffs and vegetable, taste and adjust seasonings when necessary. If you don't have a pressure cooker, bring to boil and simmer for at least 1 hour or until the meat turned falling-off-the-bone tender.

On My Saute Pan
Pineapple and Minced Pork White Curry

- 1 lb of minced meat
- 1 fresh pineapple, cut into chunks
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
- 4 cloves of shallot, thinly sliced
- 1 stalk of lemongrass, bruised and chopped into 5 cm pieces
- 1 tsp ground corriander seed
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- salt, sugar, white pepper
- chicken stock (optional)
- freshly chopped corriander and crispy fried shallot for garnish (optional)

Saute garlic, shallot and corriander, add minced meat, cook until the color changed, add pineapple, add spices and seasonings, add coconut milk, bring to boil, garnish, serve.

In My Rice Cooker
Shallot and Garlic Chicken Mixed Rice
- 3 cups of white and brown rice (50-50 mix)
- 200 ml chicken stock
- water, olive oil
- white pepper
- crispy shallot and fried garlic
Throw everything into rice cooker, mix well, add water up to the level indicated on the rice cooker, cook until done.

The dinner didn't look so much like a failure, eh? So, what happened?

The Plan
1. Touring my flat
2. Make Up & Hair Party (Athena to practice her excellent make up skills on us girls, ehm and maybe boys, Carrie to demonstrate her hair styling technique)
3. A gossiping session brief discussion on our current favorite show and stars
4. XBox 360 Party (for the boys)
5. Food and portrait photo taking session
6. Dinner
Sounds like a productive yet fun party, right?

Obviously, the whole plan didn't get executed (or I wouldn't have mentioned it). So what went down in the end?
The Reality
1. The flat tour happened
2. Sous chef showed everyone a gossip magazine stating that a certain pretty celebrity who allegedly had plastic surgeries (as if it is something so surprising), triggering a debate between him and Athena
3. Soon after the girls' arrival in the afternoon, I showed them a couple of video clips and a show of a Korean Idol, Kim Hyun Joong (Dunno who the heck he is? Check his hotness out on Athena's blog), which led to....

...hours after hours of gawking at the said idol, while gossiping making meaningful comments on the celebrity gossip magazine articles. Mind you, we are all very well trained at multitasking.
4. Due to unforeseen circumstances (the large TV being occupied by idol's show), the video games could not possibly happen
5. Food and portrait photo taking...

...luckily, we really did a bit of those. Check out the portrait I did for Joe & Athena in her blog. They're so cute and chic, good enough to eat!
6. Dinner went as planned, although I felt so sorry for not making any dessert for my guests...so...

What's for dessert? Thank goodness Athena brought these very delicious...
Macarons from Sift

Chocolate, caramel, rose, vanilla, coffee, raspberry, lemon, pistachio....take your pick! We munched on these babies while sipping cups of earl grey and peppermint tea...and believe it or not...it was close to midnight, we had to work the next day and we were still gawking at the idol's show like a bunch of teenage girls.

Screw the plan. We (girls) enjoyed the party very much, although...
Sorry about the video games, guys...better luck next time!