Pork in Mandarin and Sake Sauce

Pork…I’m considering giving up pork. Not because of religious reasons but because pigs freak me out. That would mean a life without pork chops, tacos al pastor, and bacon. Wait no (real) bacon? Hmm I may have to give this whole giving up pork thing another thought.

Mexicans eat a lot of pork, and so do Czechs. I’ve always eaten pork but not to the extent of the amounts I’ve eaten it since arriving in CZ. For a period I became a cave women and loved to order roasted pork knuckles in restaurants. Yes, the sight of this petite Mexican girl sitting down to eat a piece of meat as big as her head was a funny one. Often times the waiters made sure that I knew what I was ordering. Hey I’m small but I’m no whimp, bring it on! My cave woman days are history, and now I even question how on earth I was able to eat all of that meat. I mean I was even thinner back then. Beats me!

Nowadays I eat less meat and pork accounts for a small amount of my meat intake. Somewhere along the way I started finding pigs freakish and didn’t really want to put their flesh in mine. (Pretty picture, I know.) My husband of course does not share this sentiment. If left to his own devices he’d revert to a meat and potatoes diet. Thankfully he has me to make sure he doesn’t.

On those rare occasions that I am either encouraged to cook pork or when the stars align correctly and I am craving pork, the taste and smell has to be covered up with a depth of flavors. As it is I tend to uses many spices when I cook so creating a depth of flavor to cover up pork isn’t really a problem. Now you may be wondering why is she telling us she doesn’t care for pork and then trying to sell us on her recipe. Because I think this pork dish tastes amazing! I can pretty much assure you that if you have a picky pork eater they will love this.

We all know that pork and citrus are great together. A little hooch of course adds another depth which taste much better. If it doesn’t just pour yourself a big glass, drink, and repeat, then it will taste awesome to you. Raise your hand if you’ve done that? You know you have. But for the sake ( not the drink but English word) of this dish save your alcohol. I assure you won’t need that convincing drink for this yummy dish. Here’s how you git er done! (Sorry I just learned that phrase and find it very amusing.)

If you do not eat pork for religious or any other reasons then I think this recipe would also work great with chicken breast, or even turkey. Have fun and experiment using all seasonal ingredients.