Pressure Cooker Pork With Citrus and Mint

Pressure Cooker Pork With Citrus and Mint
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Total Time
2 hours 30 minutes
Rating
4(705)
Comments
Read comments

In this recipe for a Thai-inspired salad, made for a 6- to 8-quart electric pressure cooker, crispy pork, flavored with fish sauce and lime, is paired with sweet and juicy pomelo (or use grapefruit) and heady fried garlic chips. If you’d rather make this in a slow cooker, you can; it'll take 5 to 7 hours on high. (You can also make it in a stovetop pressure cooker, by trimming a few minutes off the cooking time. The stovetop versions tend to operate at a slightly higher pressure, cooking food more quickly.)

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Ingredients

Yield:10 servings

    For the Pork

    • 5garlic cloves
    • 2tablespoons honey
    • Finely grated zest of 2 limes
    • teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste
    • 1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
    • 4pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2 or 3 pieces
    • 1tablespoon peanut oil, more as needed
    • 1bunch of cilantro, leaves and stems separated
    • 3tablespoons Asian fish sauce
    • 1tablespoon rice wine vinegar
    • 1small red or green chile, sliced

    For the Salad

    • 1pomelo or 3 grapefruits
    • teaspoons fresh lime juice
    • ¼teaspoon honey
    • 6Persian cucumbers, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
    • Leaves from 1 bunch of cilantro
    • Leaves from 1 bunch of mint
    • 1 to 2jalapeños, thinly sliced, seeds removed or not, to taste
    • Fine sea salt, to taste
    • Cooked rice or rice noodles, for serving (optional)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)

508 calories; 34 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 15 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 16 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 33 grams protein; 740 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Grate 1 garlic clove into a small bowl, then stir in honey, lime zest, salt and pepper.

  2. Step 2

    Cut 1-inch deep slits all over pork. Rub marinade all over, and into slits, and let sit for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, or even better, cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours.

  3. Step 3

    Slice remaining 4 garlic cloves. Set electric pressure cooker to sauté (or use a large skillet), and add oil. Once it’s hot, add half the garlic and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Transfer with slotted spoon to plate lined with a paper towel and sprinkle liberally with salt. Repeat with remaining garlic, adding more oil if needed.

  4. Step 4

    Add pork to pot and sear until browned all over, about 2 minutes per side.

  5. Step 5

    Add cilantro stems to pot with pork (reserve leaves for salad). Add ¾ cup water, fish sauce, vinegar and chile to pot. Set to cook for 90 minutes on high pressure. Manually release steam. Let pork cool until you can handle it, then shred it into bite-size pieces while still warm. Pork can be made up until this point up to 3 days ahead (store it in the refrigerator).

  6. Step 6

    While pork cools, strain liquid from bottom of pot. Pour off fat, or chill liquid and scoop off fat.

  7. Step 7

    When ready to serve, heat the broiler. Transfer pork to a rimmed baking sheet, and toss with a tablespoon or two of the reserved cooking liquid (just enough to coat it without making it soggy). Broil until crisped on top, 2 to 3 minutes; it will char in some places, and that’s fine.

  8. Step 8

    Cut top and bottom off pomelo or grapefruit. Stand fruit up on cutting board on a flat end, then slice off the peel and pith, letting your knife follow curve of fruit. Working over a large bowl to catch the juices, slice the segments away from the membranes, letting fruit fall into the bowl.

  9. Step 9

    In a small bowl, whisk together ⅓ cup reserved pork cooking liquid, lime juice and honey. Add mixture to bowl with pomelo or grapefruit and toss in cucumbers, cilantro leaves from the two bunches, mint and sliced jalapeño. Season with salt to taste.

  10. Step 10

    In a large bowl, toss shredded pork with more cooking liquid to taste. Serve pork with salad topped with garlic chips, with rice or rice noodles if you like.

Ratings

4 out of 5
705 user ratings
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Comments

I LOVE the NYT cooking website. LOVE IT. But let me just say that this recipe, which I followed to the letter, is WAY TOO MUCH TROUBLE. Rub the pork, marinate the pork overnight, fry the garlic, pressure cook the pork. Shred the pork, broil the pork, chill the liquid, skim the liquid, cut the grapefruit away from the pith, thinly slice the cukes, chop the cilantro, chop the mint. JUST NOT WORTH THE TROUBLE!!! Just not that special! NO! I was intrigued by the flavor combo but it does not deliver!

Cont from previous note...
Next step, I did NOT shred the meat and toast under the broiler, because I didn't have time. However, I have done this for Carnitas and it is a good method. Next time.
I served the pork straight from the pot with the broth over rice. Presentation not the best but Man did it taste good!
Also skipped garlic chips, these never turn out to my taste.
I made the salad on the side w/o grapefruit (again lack of energy) and it was still good with the pork.
Hope this helps!

Here are adaptations for making in a stove-top pressure cooker. This turned out well for me and was shorter than the printed recipe.
First, I did not marinate. I browned the pork and added a diced onion and 3 cloves garlic to the pot. Then added the fish sauce, vinegar, cilantro, red chile pepper and 3.5 cups water (enough to barely cover the meat) S&P.
Then cook on high pressure for 2 hours. This was enough for tender meat for me.

Seared in cast iron then cooked in slow cooker on low for 5 hours with all same ingredients. Great.

This was not good. Everything, salad and meat, too watery, too fatty, no flavour. A rare miss for NYT.

I had pork shoulder and my go to is carnitas or pulled bbq pork. I love that this recipe gives me another option. I followed all the steps in the recipe because I think they each added something to the end result. I also planned to make it on a day where I could commit to doing all the steps. I had a sous chef to help bring everything together at the end and that sous chef made the Strawberry Basil Key Lime Pie while here and since it has to chill 6 hours it stayed here to be enjoyed tomorrow.

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