Comments on: Braised Pata a la Waitrose FOOD Illustrated

By: Marketman

Marketman — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:15:23 +0000

adam, ah, the joyful and delicious results of a string of kitchen mishaps… I love those the best. And yes, I suppose if you start with a pork belly, few things can really go wrong… so glad this worked for you, now I will have to try this with a pork belly! :)

By: adam

adam — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:20:09 +0000

Hello MM. Just wanted to say that by a process of trial and error we replicated this but on the stove top! We could not find nice fresh looking pata in the stores so instead bought about a 1.5kg piece of pork belly. Marinated it first in the sauce and then dropped into the oven. 15 minutes later the oven thermometer failed and started pumping at full blast! So, thinking hats on, we cut the piece of meat in half and transferred to a large casserole dish and placed on the oven top for a slow cook of about 3.5 – 4.0 hours. There was more than enough liquid to keep it cooking throughout. Finished it with a quick 15 mins in the crazy oven (now pumping out at the equivalent of gas mark 10). Sorry long story but in summary YES it does work on the stove top AND it was absolutely delicious. As you wrote this was an immediate favourite. The meat is incredibly tender and very rich. Thanks for posting the recipe.

By: Cecilia

Cecilia — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:55:52 +0000

Again, yum, yum, yum … Will definitely try this soon.

By: MrsS

MrsS — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:03:19 +0000

Don’t know if this is a stupid question but I’ll ask it just the same. Just wondering why you didn’t use an enameled dutch oven for this recipe.

By: Vicky Go

Vicky Go — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:59:48 +0000

Connie C: I like this “humba” recipe because there’s no measuring involved & yet it comes out OK all the time. I’ve even used different brands of pickled cucumbers & it still works. My MIL said to use “yellow Bean Sauce” as the beans are softer, but that is hard to find. Mostly I use Brown Bean Sauce – a compromise, somewhere between Black & Yellow. I don’t use the black beans in the can – so I just eyeball the amount & 4-5 heaping tablespoons per pot seems to be good. I like this idea of open & dump – it makes things easier! BTW, you add everything in the pickled cucumber can – so there’s sweet & sour notes there already. If you use spicy garlic bean sauce – then you add spice heat w the salty note.

By: esquire

esquire — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:22:22 +0000

MM, what do you think of slow cookers? I cooked something similar in our slowcooker with good results. With rising LPG prices, it seems cooking with a slowcooker is more economical.

By: Connie C

Connie C — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:22:49 +0000

Vicky Go , will have to try your humba recipe. I remember my mom’s version of it, cooked specially during the holiday season, and aged in the fridge, but she adds some vinegar, fermented soy bean cake ( tahure?) and sugar I think , and would simmer slowly in a clay pot. We would have simpler comfort dishes and less of meat the week before so our holiday eating will taste even more special. Mom always said a little hunger ( in this case some meat deprivation) is the best appetizer.

By: Connie C

Connie C — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:57:32 +0000

Yes, San, I kind of agree. 5 whole star anise maybe cloyingly aromatic, I would think, if it does not cause your hair to fall off, but maybe MM’s star anise are smaller compared to the ones we get here in the US. At the most, I use 1 pc of small star anise. But then I thought the same thing about using 10-12 pcs of bay leaves for adobo until I tried it and it was okay. I still wonder though whether after you reach a certain saturation point , adding a few more really don’t make a difference in which case, you may just be wasting your ingredient.

By: Marketman

Marketman — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:47:55 +0000

JR, glad the inasal recipe worked for you, it seems to be one of the most popularly visited and used recipes on the blog. san, I did use five small star anise. The original recipe called for 2-3, but our star anise are really small and a bit old, so I thought they would be less pungent… you can reduce amount if you like. Vicky, thanks for that link. k.ramos, not sure if this would work with beef… the gelatine in the pork hocks makes this a uniquely sticky, rich, fatty dish… gotta find me some rock sugar… I like the idea of doing this in a palayok, will have to try that too! emsy, not sure how this would turn out with duck, if you want it confit like, you will need some added duck fat… but if connie c does it with chicken legs, you might try duck…

By: JR

JR — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 17:23:57 +0000

MM,

Thanks for this great post. I will try to make it this weekend. Like your other post like the chicken inasal. I tried it this week. My youngest kid loved it.

Thanks,