I am quite hesitant to cook with pork. Done well, pork can be a delicious type of meat. BBQ pork belly buns are my special guilty pleasure. I never quite figured out how they can keep the pork belly so succulent whilst creating that heavenly outer layer of caramelized, crispy and sweet goodness. More often than not, cooking pork gets you straight into pork hell, with dry meat that could as easily be your shoe sole and a very very pork-y after taste. Today my challenge will be to create a heavenly pork dish. My inspiration for this came from our visit to San Sebastian last year. During our trip, we visited a wonderful restaurant called La Madame. They served a cut of Iberico meat (pluma) in honey-soy glaze with Shiitake and Bok Choy that was absolutely delicious. The pluma was served pink, which is something you rarely see with pork. The meat just melted in my mouth…

In terms of the cut of meat, I wanted to use the Iberico Pluma (feather) as well, which is a very tender and juicy cut from the pork which comes from just behind the neck. Iberico pork is considered the Wagyu of pork and is not comparable to normal pork (the animals look quite different). Typical of Iberico pork is that the meat is beautifully marbled with fat, which makes it juicier than regular pork in general, whatever cut of meat you buy. Anyway, we visited Hanos a few weeks ago and in the freezer section I found all sorts of beautiful cuts of Iberico pork, such as cheeks, the Presa (from between the neck and shoulder) and the Secreto (shoulder). The labels suggested they had Pluma as well, but I could not find it, so bought 1 kg of frozen Iberico Secreto. The Secreto is a very thin cut of meat that is very hard to find, hence the name “Secreto”. For those that cannot enter Hanos, you can also buy Iberico pork cuts online in NL:

• https://www.lejean.nl/
• https://lindenhoff.nl/
• Update: we found out that Landmarkt in Amsterdam also sells Iberico Secreto

Secreto or Pluma is best served medium, but because it came from the freezer and likely is not entirely fresh, I decided it would be better to cook it through delicately. Luckily I just bought a fairly cheap sous vide circulator for around 100 euro’s, including a mini vacuum sealer and bags. I bought mine at Westwing at the time, but they have them in other online stores as well (unfortunately you need to buy the sealer and bags separately – though a vacuum sealer is not absolutely necessary. You could also vacuum seal them by immersing the bag in water). Using a sous vide allows the meat to stay tender thanks to slow precision cooking at low temperatures, which is exactly what I needed for the Secreto.

I always wondered whether a sous vide would be worth buying and we have held off on it, due to the size, price and equipment needed. But with the offer on Westwing I could not resist anymore (unfortunately it is no longer available on Westwing). I must say, I am very happy with our sous vide and the end result of this experiment was pretty impressive. The meat of the pork was so tender, and aside from the pluma I had at La Madame, I never had pork meat this tender before, so I will definitely be using my sous vide more often (in the weekends)

This is what you need for for 4 p.

Ingredients:

For the pork:

• 600 gram Iberico Secreto (or Pluma) – I had 1 kg defrosted, and after cooking it in the sous vide, kept 400 gram in the freezer for another time
• 2 tsp Asian five spice powder
• 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 4 tbsp honey
• 4 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp Shao Hsing wine
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 2 tsp grated garlic
• extra tbsp of honey and hoisin for later

For the Bok Choy and Shiitake mushrooms

• 1 Bok Choy
• 400 gram Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp grated garlic
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp light soy sauce

I serve this with some wholegrain rice, which you can cook according to the package instructions.

Method

Start by marinating the pork the evening before. Mix all the ingredients together and put in a bowl with the pork, ensuring all sides of the pork are touched by the marinade and refrigerate.

The day after, around noon, bring a big pot of water to 62 Celsius with the sous vide. Remove the pork from the marinade and reserve the marinade for later. Put the cuts in the sous vide bags and vacuum. Put the bags in the pot and leave for a minimum of 4 hours (we left ours for 6).

After 4 to 6 hours, turn the oven on to the highest temperature (for us this is 275 Celsius). Remove the pork from the sous vide bags and pat dry. Put them on a wire rack and glaze with the leftover marinade, to which you have added another tbsp of hoisin and honey. Turn on the broiler and broil the meat at high temperature so that it gets crispy on the outside. You will need to turn the meat after about 5 minutes and glaze before putting it under the boiler again. Ensure you have an oven tray at the bottom of your wire rack as juices will leak out.

During the broiling process, heat the oils in a wok on high and stir fry the shiitake mushrooms. Remove from the pan when golden brown and reduce the heat. Add the ginger and garlic, and after a minute, the bok choy. Fry for about 4 minutes and add 2 tbsp of water and the soy sauce. Return the shiitake mushrooms and fry for another 2 minutes.

Your meat will be about ready when your vegetables are cooked, but keep an eye on them regularly as ovens are quite different. Once crispy, remove the pork from the oven and rest for a bit before plating: put some rice on a plate, the vegetables and the Iberico Secreto on top.

You will be as surprised as I was to find out that a sous vide really makes a difference. The pork was beautifully tender and light. I normally could only eat half the portion I ate today, but I finished the whole plate. Yummie! I should have cut it in smaller pieces so that you could see how juicy it was inside, but I ate it all before thinking about it 🙂