Double Whammy...of Salt

After all that pulled pork, I had about a 3 lb piece of pork butt left over- the perfect size for making a slow simmered pork by Ken Hom. Though his recipe for Red Pork with Chinese White Radish called for pork shoulder, this hunk would do just fine. While it slowly stewed away into melt-in-your-mouth tenderness, the aroma of star anise, cinnamon, soy sauce and other nasal delights permeated the whole house which only served to increase the anticipation of dinnertime.

Alas, it was oversalted. I'm sure one source of the problem is that the meat I had was not as thick as a whole chunk of shoulder so there was no need to cook it so long. Plus this piece was deboned which meant there were sections that were on the thin side. Again, it was not a huge hunk o' meat. Unfortunately, the radish offered no balance to the dish. Instead, it too was unbearably salty. Though I had removed the pork from the pot while reducing the sauce, I should have done the same for the radish. In the end, the radish had to be thrown out. The recipe did not mention removing either while reducing the sauce, but I was suspicious from the dark color. Having never made a dish like this, I was not sure how far I could push the pork before it hit the point of too salty. Now I know! ;P Otherwise, my family enjoyed the flavors... but with a lot of rice and fresh vegetables to counter the intense saltiness.

Of course I had to continue the meal's theme of salt. The dish for me was quite salty as well, but knowingly so as the recipe called for the addition of rice into the sauce mix. I didn't bother with that step as I wanted to pour the Ginger Shrimp with Scallions over my rice (better control). The recipe is from Carol Gelles' Ultimate Diabetes Cookbook, and in reading the recipe, I knew it would be boring. Nevertheless, I had to satiate my curiosity. Indeed, it was as expected: salty and boring. Basically, it was just shrimp with garlic, scallions, hoisin and some soy. I never trust western recipes for eastern food. I have yet to come across a good one but I always hope it'll actually be good. Fortunately, the dish was edible, though not worthy of being photographed.