Roast Pork with a Honey-Soy Glaze, Roasted Pineapple and Sauteed Bok Choy

We were watching some show about Hawaii the other day and I got inspired to create a dish using those Polynesian-type flavors. This is the second dish this week that I made up in my mind, put down on paper, cooked, and had it turn out according to the original concept. I am really happy with this one.

I can't stress enough about the meat thermometer. You really do need to get one. Another important thing here is the internal temperature of cooked pork. Gone are the days of having to cook it to 165F/73C, which will turn it quite dry and unpleasant. I did some extensive reading online and found that the bacteria that used to be in pork (trichinosis) long ago has all but been eliminated in modern pork farming. In any case, trichinosis dies at a temperature of 140F/60C. Just to be safe, most folks nowadays recommend 144F/62C for a good internal temperature for pork.

This frees us from the days of hockey-puck consistency pork chops! This pork was marinated for 24 hours, cooked to 62C, and it turned out amazingly moist, juicy, with the faintest shade of pink to the meat and absolutely delicious.

¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
¼ cup soy sauce
¼ cup mirin
20 g ginger, fresh, grated
1 kg pork loin, skin on
1 large pineapple, skinned, quartered, cored, cut into 1/2" chunks
¼ cup Cognac
200 milliliters chicken stock
1 head bok choy
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Mix the honey, rice vinegar, soy, mirin, ginger and whisk together in a bowl. Put the mixture into a resealable bag and add the pork loin. Move the pork around in the marinade to coat evenly. Marinade for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.

Remove the pork from the marinade and put aside, reserving the marinade, making sure to leave at least 1/4 cup of it for the sauce at the end. Take the pineapple chunks and put them in a roasting pan. Put a roasting tray on top of the pineapple and then place the pork on top. Baste the pork with a few spoonfuls of the reserved marinade. Put the pork in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C/350F. Cook the pork for an additional 50 minutes, spooning over a few spoonfuls of marinade every 15 minutes until a thermometer registers 62C/145F. You may need to cover the top of the pork with foil if the skin starts to go black.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow the pork to rest for at least 10 minutes on a cutting board. Remove the pineapple from the pan the put to one side. Pour off most of the fat from the pan and put on the stove over medium-high heat. When hot, deglaze the pan with the Cognac, making sure to scrape up any bits left on the bottom. Add the chicken stock, and reserved 1/4 cup of marinade, bring to a boil and allow to reduce until you have about 3/4 cup of nice sauce. Strain this off and add a pinch of salt and some sugar as necessary. Pour off into a clean bowl.

Get a wok or saute pan hot over medium-high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat. Add the bok choy leaves and some salt, pepper and sesame oil and saute until it starts to wilt, about 1 minute, moving the leaves constantly. Remove from the pan. Cut the pork into slices.

Place some bok choy leaves on the bottom of each plate. Place some pork medallions on top of the bok choy and then top with some of the pineapple and sauce. Serve hot with some crackling, if desired.