Following
a bout of terrible tummy turmoil—two days with negative food, one day with
small amounts of rice and sips of Sleepytime tea—I was in a food quandary. It
was time to eat, but what? Nothing appealed. A lackadaisical wander through the
cookbook shelves did not arouse any desire. Rather the reverse. Then, a flash
of inspiration: Dry Pork Stew from my Vietnamese cookbook, called,
appropriately, Vietnamese Cookery.
A
compendium of the delicious and the obscure (one recipe requires “the water of
green coconuts, fresh off the tree. There is no substitute.”) Vietnamese
Cookery is one of my favorite pieces of
food porn. It does not require any effort other than relaxing in a comfy chair
and reading. However, page forty-four, the page housing Dry Pork Stew, is stained and worn. Touted by the author as “the safest possible food for one in a
delicate condition…eaten happily by anyone else who can get near this dish,”
Dry Pork Stew is the foundation of one of my favorite meals.
Here
it is.
Dry Pork Stew
1 lb. fairly lean pork
2 shallots or white part of green onions
Remove any bones, and slice the meat against the grain in
thin (1/8-inch) strips about one inch wide and two or three inches long. Slice
shallots or green onion in thin rounds. Put all into a small, deep pot. A
larger pot will not do for this dish, for it must cook at fairly high heat and
yet not burn. The small pot presents less surface for burning.
¼ teaspoon black pepper 2
tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar 2
tablespoons water
Add the seasoning and water to the pork in the pot, put on
high heat and bring to a boil. Stir well, mix, and cook about two minutes.
Reduce heat to medium high, and boil for about twenty or thirty minutes,
stirring occasionally, until all the liquid is absorbed and the meat begins to
turn light brown. Be careful not to burn it.
This is pretty salty (the fish sauce), so serve with lots of
rice. Add a salad and you’re done.
I added ginger to the mix to further soothe my tummy. If you
cannot bear the idea of fish sauce, I suggest you get over it. But, if you
must, soy sauce will do.
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