First Ever Sweet And Sour Pork....WOW!! (Lotsa Pics)

[Gonna Smoke]

Robert, we absolutely love Asian flavors and this is right up our alley although we tend to lean more towards the less sweet, more spicy/savory flavors. Very nice, my friend...

 

[bill ace 350]

That looks great!

Now I am hungry....

You got me thinking of making my favorite oriental dish - Thai Pad Gra Pow!

Just need the holy basil.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Nice job, Robert.

I haven't made sweet and sour pork in years.
Thanks for the motivation.

Stu

 

[tx smoker]

looks great! thanks for sharing your method and all the great pics!

More than welcome and thank you for the kind words. this one was fun to post.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Nothing short of culinary genius Robert! Bookmarked and soon to be copied verbatim in my wok out on the patio stove, looks ideal.

Thanks so much my friend. you've been turning out some amazing Asian food recently so the accolades mean a lot.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

I can smell that sweet and sour. That first pic with the red and green onions, the peppers and then the smell of the pineapple you know what's coming.
Nice work and write up!

Very much appreciate the kind words...and you're correct. the aroma was tantalizing to say the least. Oh so good and it was an indication of what was to come when we sat down to eat.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Robert that is one great looking dish! I’ve never ordered or eaten sweet n sour pork, but I must say it’s on a short trip to the inside of my belly. Your dish looks much better than takeout !

Thank you my friend. I can promise, knowing your tastes in food, that you'd absolutely love this. Just be sure to set aside a couple hours to put it all together. Well worth the time though.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

DROOL!!!

I ~~~LOVE~~~ Asian-inspired food (as long as it passes over/through some heat...no sushi-stuff for me!).

I made a HUGE batch of shrimp rolls from scratch once (wanted to put some in the freezer). They were delicious, but you should've seen my kitchen! Looked like a tornado went through it!

Thank you for the kind words Sherry. I can relate to the tornado theory. Seems like I can't even make a sandwich without it looking like a bomb went off in the kitchen. It is imperative that I clean up as I go or I'll be there all night after dinner getting things back to normal.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Nice one Robert! I also love Asian food. I doing Korean Bulgogi tomorrow.

Thank you Brian.. I got a recipe here from a member for Koreab Bulgogi tacos and I'll tell you, it is amazing!! Have fun and show us what you come up with.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

A long time ago I found a MAJOR game changer for what I was missing in my Asian cuisine. It was simply Toasted Sesame Oil.

Thanks so much for the insight. Maybe I just got lucky but I've been using the toasted sesame oil for quite some time but not knowing it made that much of a difference. That is actually the oil I used after cleaning the wok from cooking the pork and starting the final process.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Boy oh boy! You got some skills! From a steel Christmas tree to some great Asian food!!!! If your next thread is anything related to the squirrel family then I believe we will build bunk beds together.

Thanks Justin. I guess I like a little diversity in my schedule Not too sure about something from the squirrel family though although we do have them by the hundreds here on the property. Maybe for you I could conjure up something....maybe even a gap-toothed squirrel just for fun

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

^^^^^Yup.

Yup Can't argue with that sage advice.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Looks excellent ! For sure had to "bookmark" this one . Thanks Robert

Thanks so much. I am honored that you find it worthy. It truly was an outstanding meal.

Robert

 

[CTXSmokeLover]

Beautiful stuff Robert! Now I'm in the mood for Chinese. Perfect for the cold days we've had lately. Great pics!

 

[JLeonard]

Great looking meal
Jim

 

[negolien]

I have always loved Asian style food but it's been somewhat of a nemesis for me. When I was a kind we had a really nice Polynesian restaurant in town (over an hour drive) and I loved the sweet and sour pork they made. It was a mainstay for me when we went there for dinner, which wasn't very often. We had to wait till dad had some work related event in the evening then mom and I would take off and head to this place for dinner. Since then I have never had the meal as good as what they did....until last Saturday. The weather was horrid. Temps never went above mid 30's, windy, and pouring rain all day. Spent most of the day in the garage fabricating steel Christmas trees (yes, you read that correctly) and decided it would be a perfect day to make this. I had a recipe that I felt would be really good but it was gonna take a while to put it all together. Started this right at 3:00.

The culprits all cut up: red and green bell pepper, onion, pineapple, and green onions.
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Made the sweet and sour sauce.
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Got the rice going in my little steamer. I love this little thing!!
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Two large center cut pork loin chops hit heavily with the jaccard.
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Pork cut up, mixed with salt & pepper, assembly line all set up to bread the pork.
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Pork all breaded and ready to go into the wok with hot oil.
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First batch in the wok. I did this in 3 batches so as not to overcrowd the wok.
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Pork all done and draining on paper towels
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Rice done and keeping happy.
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The culprits in line for final assembly.
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Remove the oil from the wok that was used for cooking the pork, wipe it down, and add a couple T of fresh oil. In go the onions and garlic.
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Cook for a couple minutes and add the bell pepper.
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A couple more minutes and add the pineapple.
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Mix to heat the pineapple, add the pork and sweet & sour sauce.
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Mix to coat the meat and cook till the pork is hot.
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Serve over rice, garnish with green onions and sesame seeds.
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And the obligatory close up shot.
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This was not a 15 minute meal, that's for sure but it was nothing short of incredible. With my lack of ability to create decent Asian inspired food I wasn't expecting a lot but was blown away. Far and again the best rendition of this meal I have ever had. Even Tracy loved it, which was a shock. She will humor me once in a while with Asian food but she's not a big fan as a general rule. This one changed her mind Deep, rich, vibrant flavors and a perfect balance of sweet and sour. This one has given me a bit of confidence to delve deeper into Asian style cooking, that's for sure. The recipe for this one is very long but if anybody would like to see it just say the word and I'll post it.

Oh well, gonna call this one a wrap. Thanks for sticking it out to the end....assuming you made it that far Y'all take care and see everybody soon.

Robert

Fabulous thanks for sharing

 

[SherryT]

Thank you for the kind words Sherry. I can relate to the tornado theory. Seems like I can't even make a sandwich without it looking like a bomb went off in the kitchen. It is imperative that I clean up as I go or I'll be there all night after dinner getting things back to normal.

Robert

The more ingredients a recipe has, the worse it is, too!

The egg roll recipe I used had what seemed like a gazillion ingredients AND I'd never used some of them AND I'd never made egg rolls...there wasn't a square inch of counter space in my kitchen that wasn't used!

Like I said, I made egg rolls from scratch "once"...

 

[tx smoker]

Good looking pork Sir Robert

Thanks so much. I truly appreciate it.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Man that looks good Robert. I love sweet-n-sour. So many proteins could be used. Shrimp is my fav

Thanks so much Chris. Appreciate it. funny you mention shrimp. I have some jumbo shrimps in the freezer and had planned to make this meal again using them next time Tracy goes out of town

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Looks perfect to me Robert! I love Asian food.

Thanks buddy. I love it too...just wish I was more adept at creating it

Robert