serves
4
prep
40 minutes
cook
4:30 hours
difficulty
Mid
serves
4
people
preparation
40
minutes
cooking
4:30
hours
difficulty
Mid
level
Ingredients
- 2 small onions, thinly sliced
- 1.2 kg boneless pork shoulder, skin on
- 500 ml (2 cups) Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing) (see Note)
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar (see Note)
- 190 g (½ cup) char siu sauce (see Note)
- 2 star anise
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 4 Vietnamese baguettes, halved lengthwise
Pineapple slaw
- 200 g ripe pineapple, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
- ½ long red chilli, seeded, finely chopped
- ½ Lebanese cucumber, seeded, thinly sliced
- 100 g (about 2 cups) chopped Chinese cabbage (wombok)
- ½ cup Thai basil (see Note), torn
- ½ cup hot (Vietnamese) mint (see Note) leaves
- 1 lime, juiced
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- ½ tsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp grated palm sugar
Instructions
Arrange onions in the base of a large, heavy-based pan. Add pork, skin-side up, with rice wine, vinegar, char siu sauce, star anise, cinnamon and 500 ml water. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 4½ hours or until pork is meltingly tender. Allow pork to cool slightly in cooking liquid.
Meanwhile, to make the pineapple slaw, combine pineapple, chilli, cucumber, cabbage, basil and mint. Whisk remaining ingredients and pour over slaw, tossing to coat.
When cool enough to handle, remove pork from cooking liquid, reserving 125 ml. Shred pork, discarding fat, place in a bowl and stir in reserved cooking liquid. Fill baguettes with pulled pork and pineapple slaw, then serve.
Note
• Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing), rice vinegar, char siu sauce, Thai basil and hot (Vietnamese) mint are available from Asian food shops.
Photography Derek Swalwell
Cook's Notes
Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.
