rice cooker braised pork


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/01rice.html?scp=1&sq=rice%20cooker&st=cse

for my rice cooker i measured the temperature it maintains in its chamber while on the "keep warm" cycle. it is 150F. at this temperature, if i remember correctly, connective tissue in tough cuts of meat dissolves slowly, and protein-bound water flows minimally. my theory was that you could braise a piece of roasting meat, even if it would take a whole day.

in fact it works.

recipe synopsis:

add a pice of stewing meat (browned on the outside if you want) and enough braising liquid to cover the meat 3/4 of the way to the rice cooker. turn it on. once steam comes out, change it to the "keep warm" setting. wait for 12-18 hours. you can open to turn the meat if you want. the main idea is to put it in at night, then to go sleep and it should be ready by the time you want to eat dinner the next day.

i used pork shoulder roast and a braising liquid taken from the Periplus "Homestyle Chinese Cooking" cookbook:

1c soy sauce
2c rice wine
2c water
.5 c vinegar
.5 c rock sugar
2in. sliced ginger
6 spring onions
peel of one orange
1 stick of cinnamon, broken
1t peppercorns
2 star anise

you are supposed to eat it with blanched spinach.
- posted by Jesse @ 5:35 PM