Pork Shoulder with Hispi Cabbage | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Pork Shoulder with Hispi Cabbage and Apples

COOK TIME: 12 hours
PREP TIME: 3 hours
DIFFICULTY: Difficult
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

1.4kg pork shoulder
14g of salt

Apple and celeriac purée

500g of Bramley apple, peeled, cored and sliced
25g of olive oil
1/2 tsp lemon juice
200g of celeriac, peeled and sliced
200ml of milk
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp cider vinegar

Pork sauce

1.2kg pork bones
800ml of chicken stock
400g of pork trimmings
400ml of white wine
200g of button mushrooms, sliced
lemon zest, 1 piece
1 lemon juice
1 garlic clove
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1.2g of xanthan gum
1 tsp Chardonnay vinegar
1 pinch of black pepper

Hispi cabbage

1 Hispi cabbage
10ml of white wine vinegar
20ml of duck fat

Red apple slices

2 Redlove apples, sliced
125ml of lemon juice
250ml of water
250ml of sugar

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Method

Recipe courtesy of Agnar Sverrisson from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

Preheat the water bath to a temperature of 70⁰C.
Debone the pork shoulder and rub the salt into meat. Shape the joint into an oblong, then stretch cling film around the meat to ensure it holds the shape. Seal inside a vacuum bag using a chamber sealer.
Place the bag in the water bath and leave to cook for 12 hours. After this time, transfer the meat to the fridge and leave overnight to chill.
Preheat the water bath to a temperature of 88⁰C.
For the apple and celeriac purée, seal the sliced apple and celeriac in a vacuum bag with the olive oil. You will need to use a chamber sealer to do this.
Place the bag in the water bath and leave to cook sous vide. After 30 minutes, remove the bag and place the contents in a blender with the lemon juice, milk, salt and cider vinegar. Pulse the mixture in the blender until smooth.
Preheat the oven to a temperature of 180⁰C/gas mark 4.
Next, prepare the pork sauce. Arrange the pork bones on a baking tray and place in the oven. Cook until golden brown.
Heat the chicken stock in a large saucepan. When the stock is boiling, tip the roasted pork bones into the pan and simmer for 1 hour. Place the white wine in a separate saucepan over a medium heat. Cook for 10 minutes, starting the clock when the wine reaches the boil, then set aside until needed.
Brown the pork trimmings in a large saucepan. When the trimmings have caramelised, empty the meat and fat from the pan into a colander and leave to drain.
Pass the stock through a fine sieve to remove the bones, then place in a clean saucepan with the caramelised trimmings, the button mushrooms and the garlic. Bring to the boil and cook over a gentle heat for 1 hour.
Strain the sauce through a fine sieve and leave to settle, then remove any fat that has come to surface. Stir in the xanthan gum to thicken the sauce, add salt and pepper to taste and mix in the lemon juice and vinegar. Infuse the sauce with the thyme sprig and the lemon rind for 20 minutes, then set aside until needed.
Next, prepare the hispi cabbage. Shred the hispi cabbage into long thin strips. Melt the duck fat in a saucepan and add the cabbage. Sauté until tender, then add salt to season and mix in the vinegar.
To make the red apple slices, combine the sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Submerge the apple slices in the mixture and heat until boiling, then simmer for 4 minutes. After this time, drain off the liquid and set the apple aside until required.
For the parsnips, bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add the parsnips and simmer for 3½ minutes.
Preheat the water bath to a temperature of 62⁰C.
Seal the pork shoulder inside a clean vacuum bag using a chamber sealer. Place in the water bath and sous vide for 15 minutes until reheated all the way through. Unseal the bag and pat the meat dry on kitchen paper.
Place the shoulder skin-side down in a hot frying pan and fry until the skin is crispy. After frying, check that the meat is hot all the way through by inserting a skewer into the centre, then cut into 4 portions.
To serve, divide the hispi cabbage between 4 plates. Heap the cabbage into a pile in the centre of each plate and top with a portion of pork shoulder. Place 2 slices of apple beside the cabbage and dot the plate with apple and celeriac purée. Spoon the pork sauce over the meat and finish each plate with 2 baby parsnips.

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Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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