RECIPE 4- CAMBODIAN SPIT ROAST PORK

CAMBODIAN LEMONGRASS & PEPPERCORN SPIT ROAST PORK, FERMENTED MANGO, LIME LEAF BUTTER 
A domestic-sized version of the dish I cooked at my Meatopia debut in September 2021. With the historical French rule in Cambodia, baguettes and butter are everywhere so you can dine on amazing spicy food combined with butter and carbs. Heaven. 

The marinated pork leg steaks get skewered together like a giant kebab. I give the cooking instructions here for indirect grilling. You could also thread the stack onto a rotisserie spike or indeed cook it on a vertical trompo spit like we did at Meatopia if you happen to have one!

Begin this recipe with the fermented lime pickle - I started this around 12 days prior to eating. You could go quicker on the ferment by not refrigerating at the end, or indeed you could keep it fresh and not ferment at all, in which case make it on the day you want to eat and reduce the salt down to taste and stir through along with everything else.

Serves 6

fermented green mango pickle 
2 large unripe mango
salt, see method

then, post-ferment, to taste:
coriander, leaves and stems finely chopped
birds eye chillies, finely chopped
lime zest and juice, about 2 
caster sugar

Cambodian lemongrass and peppercorn pork 
2 lemongrass stalks, roughly chopped
50g ginger, roughly chopped
4 garlic, roughly chopped
1 lime, juice and zest
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp runny honey
2 tbsp oyster sauce 
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp peppercorns, crushed
1.5kg pork leg, rind removed and slices into 1cm steaks

lime leaf butter
12 double lobed lime leaves (fresh or frozen is fine, but NOT dried, they taste of nothing!)
200g unsalted butter, softened
1-2 tsp Maldon sea salt

to serve
part baked mini baguettes, baked until crispy - 12 or so
soft round lettuce leaves

you also need 6 long, preferably metal, skewers

What to do:
For the mango ferment, wash the mangoes well with soapy water and rinse thoroughly. Coarsely grate off the flesh, skin and all and discard the flesh. You can or use a julienne shredding attachment on a mandolin. Weigh the flesh into a bowl then calculate the quantity of salt you need - you need 3% salt to mango. Take the weight in the bowl and times it 0.03, so for example 500g flesh x 0.03 = 15g salt. Sprinkle the salt in and stir really well together. Pack into a sterilised jar, a Kilner jar is ideal, and top up with water so the mango is submerged. Take a disc of baking paper and press it onto the surface to ensure the mango stays under the brine. Shut the lid and set aside on the worktop to ferment for a few days, maybe 5 or so - this will take less time in warmer weather than if its cool. Open the lid a little every day to less the gas out and taste a little whilst you’re at it. Once you’re happy with it - it should taste sharp and zingy but not particularly ‘boozy’ - slide the jar into the fridge and leave for another 5-7 days. 

When you are ready to serve, drain the mange through a sieve, squeezing out as much brine as you can then add to a mixing bowl. Stir through lime juice and zest, chopped coriander, chopped chilli and a little sugar to taste. Refrigerate until required. Once you mixed the fresh herbs through its best used within a couple of days. 

To marinate the pork, add the lemongrass, ginger, garlic and lime juice and zest to a small food processor and blitz to a paste. Add the soy, honey, oyster and fish sauces, along with the peppercorns and blitz until smooth. 

Put the pork leg steaks into a bowl and pour the marinade over, tossing the about until the meat is well coated. Cover and slide into the fridge, 24 hours or even 48 would be good.

Once you are ready to cook, fire up the barbecue ready for indirect cooking - I like to light two small fires, one either side of my barbecue so the meat sits in between them with a gentle heat coming from both sides.

Lift the pork steaks from the marinade (saving any marinade for basting), and lay one by one in a vertical stack on a chopping board. Take the skewers and pierce down through the stack, evenly spaced around the meat, so that you pin the steaks together in a fairly secure, neat pile. You can also dice the steaks into cubes and thread onto skewers like traditional kebabs - but cooking it together as a joint like this keeps the meat more juicy.

Rest the meat onto the grill bars, in between the fires and shut the lid. Leave to cook gently for around an hour and 15 minutes. A meat thermometer is really helpful for this recipe, you are looking for the internal temperature to be 65°C for medium to 73°C for well done. Every 15-20 minutes, lift the lid, rotate the joint and brush over a little of the marinade.

Whilst the pork is roasting make the butter. Remove the tough central rib from the lime leaves and finely chop the leaves. Add to a bowl along with the butter and sea salt flakes and mash to mix. Set aside at room temperature.

Rest the meat onto a clean board and pull out the skewers, they should pull out fairly easily, and carve into strips.

To serve, stuff a lettuce leaf into a hot baguette and add some pork. Top with a generous spoonful of butter and some of the mango pickle. Squish together so the butter melts a little and tuck in whilst hot.

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