Recipes

Method

1. 1.
   Salt baked Pork Jowl: Preheat oven to 170°C. Remove pork jowls from the head and clean excess fat and glands from the jowls. Keeping the trimmings of fat to be rendered down. Place jowls onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper, skin side up. Rub oil into the skin. Cover with table salt until there is no sign of the skin showing. Place the salted pigs heads into the oven and cook for 1 hour. On another tray place the pork fat and cook in the oven for 20 minutes to render the fat. When the fat has been rendered, take out of the oven and pass through a fine sieve. Set aside for later use. After one hour, take the jowls out of the oven and remove salt crust from the skin. Use a pastry brush to help remove any excess salt from the jowls. Heat a 30cm, non-stick pan over medium heat. Add vegetable oil to the warm pan and place the pork jowls, skin side down into the pan. Hold the pork jowls down to help form a crispy skin. Remove jowls from the pan and place on a board allowing them to rest for 2 minutes before carving.
2. 2.
   Pork Stock: Once jowls have been removed from the head, roast the head at 230°C for 10 minutes on an oven tray. Place the large pot of hot water on the stove and add garlic, celery, ginger and kelp, bring to a gentle simmer. While the stock is coming to a simmer, wrap shitake mushrooms in a cloth. Tie with a rubber band to secure them and add to the stock. When the head has been roasted, take it out of the oven and place into the stock. Simmer gently for 50 minutes Remove the head and shitake mushrooms from the stock and place onto a tray. While warm, pick remaining meat from the head and place the picked meat to the side for later use. Discard bones. Unwrap shitakes from the cloth, put to the side for later use.
3. 3.
   Pork Rillettes: Take the meat that was removed from the head and finely chop, place into a bowl. Finely chop the shitake mushrooms, combine with the chopped pork meat. Add pork fat, soy sauce, ginger and combine. Taste and adjust seasoning with sea salt. Place the rillette mix into a cryovac bag, seal and place into a water bath at 60°C to keep warm until you’re ready to plate.
4. 4.
   Pickled shitake and eshallot puree: Add mirin, rice wine vinegar and sugar to a small pot, bring to a simmer to create a pickling liquid. When the sugar is dissolved, add the shitakes and eshallots to the pickling liquid, simmer for 20 minutes or until eshallots are soft. When ready, strain off the liquid and place the pickled shitake mushrooms and eshallots in a blender. Blend to combine and while still blending, slowly pour in hot water and soy sauce to help ingredients come together. Once combined add xanthan gum and blend on a high speed for 1 minute to help stabilize the puree. Pass the puree through a fine sieve to remove any lumps and create a smooth consistency. Store puree in a squeezy bottle ready for plating.
5. 5.
   Wombok: Cut wombok into quarters then wash in cold water to remove any dirt. Take a small to medium size bowl and add water, salt and grated ginger. Mix to combine. Place wombok quarters into a cryovac bag and add ginger water. Seal and steam in a water bath at 100°C for 8 minutes. Then remove bag from water and allow to cool. When cool, remove wombok from the cryovac bag and remove the core of the wombok and discard. Separate the leaves of the wombok and lightly brush wombok leaves with oil then char on the grill, place aside for plating.
6. 6.
   Shitake Mushroom: Clean shitake mushrooms by removing stems and any dirt on the mushroom. Place cleaned shitakes into a cryovac bag. Add hot pork stock to the mushrooms and seal bag. Place bag aside and allow to cool on the bench. Once cool, remove mushrooms from bag and lightly brush with oil. Char shitakes on the grill then place to one side.
7. 7.
   Sauerkraut: Take the cabbage and remove the outer leaves while keeping one full green leaf aside. Core and finely shred cabbage then place into a large bowl. Add salt to the shredded cabbage and using your hands, rub cabbage until the cabbage wilts and renders juices, could take up to 5 minutes. Place salted cabbage into a jar with a wide opening. Press down firmly until the cabbage is tightly packed to completely remove any air, making sure the cabbage is well covered with it own juices. Place the green leaf on top of the cabbage weighing it down with a stone weight to stop loose pieces of cabbage floating to the top. Cover jar with a clean cloth and secure in place with a rubber band. Place the jar in a cold, dark place for one week to allow the fermentation process to take place. After one week, store the jar in the refrigerator. Drain well before using. Note: If you are short on time a good quality, store bought sauerkraut can be used to help add a fresh acidity to the dish and cut through the fattiness of the pork.
8. 8.
   Plating Instructions: Carve pork jowl with bread knife in 1cm thick slices. Making sure to cut through the crackling side first. Place sliced jowl on the plate, then approximately 50g of pork rillette to one side of the jowl. Ribbon the charred wombok over the middle of the jowl and place a small pile, approximately 10g of sauerkraut at the top end of the wombok Lean the charred shitake mushroom, bottom side up, at the end the jowl. With the squeezy bottle of pickled shitake puree, scatter four dots, approximately ½ -1 teaspoon for each dot. Garnish with nasturtium shoots and finish with a light dust of the strained brown kelp powder.