“Psssst! Clark!” Kathy whispered. Before I could respond, she thrust a document into my hands, performed a perfect pirouette and left my cube. Browsing the two-page black & white copy, I could only chuckle as I realized it was a recipe from Bon Appetit for Sweet Potato-Pork Belly Hash. My peeps were feeding my hashcapade obsession!
I love hearing new suggestions for restaurants serving hash. I love getting new recipes. I love it! Sometimes I create something from my imagination and other times I modify a recipe to suit my style and technique. This hashcapade was one of the latter because my favorite mushrooms, chanterelles, were in season – huzzah!
Another game changer was the product of sheer luck. We went to Uwajimaya to get high-quality, Carlton Farms pork belly. While cruising the produce aisles, a reddish-purple tuber caught my eye – a Japanese sweet potato. Combined with the yam, I’d have a good contrast of orange and golden sweet potatoes to amp up the presentation! Finally, you’ll notice BridgePort Brewing’s Kingpin Double Red Ale, which I substituted for half of the braising liquid.
Because this recipe calls for braising the pork belly for 3 hours, you can use the extra time to prep/cook the potatoes and cook the chanterelles. Hopefully, you’ll have the time to also catch part of a college game, paint your bedroom or take a post-marathon run like I did 🙂 And when it’s ready, heaven awaits – rich, flavorful, succulent beer-braised pork belly!
After all was said and done, this was a very tasty hashcapade. Imagine the tender, lip-smacking, beer-braised pork belly quickly seared in the pan to develop a lovely crispy crust. Then consider the sweet lusciousness of shallot-infused sweet potatoes combined with the earthy, woody and dense chanterelles. Finished off with syrup, red wine vinegar and a poached egg, this was truly a flavor-gasmic hashcapade!
So, a few other modifications. I added a sprig of fresh rosemary in the braising liquid. For the chanterelles, I sweated them in 2 tablespoons of butter, then added 1/4 cup of cooking sherry and a teaspoon of fresh thyme. Finally, rather than wait for the pork belly to be done, I used 2 tablespoons of bacon fat and cooked them for about 15 minutes, before adding the shallots for the final 5 or so minutes. I also used the pork belly immediately rather than press and refrigerate over night – I was hungry!!!
Tell me about your experience with this recipe or your favorite way to cook pork belly 🙂
Happy Hashcapades,
Clark
Ai yi yiiiiii!!!!!! I’ll take 24 ozs plz!!!!
Makes you hungry, eh? Meriwether’s hashcapade is this coming Saturday at 10AM. See you and Lars, hopefully!