Secrets of the Tulalip Chefs

 

The award-winning chefs who design and oversee the restaurants at the Tulalip Resort Casino share their favorite recipes and tips with our readers. Although the dishes look and taste like gourmet treats, even household cooks can follow these instructions to put the wow factor back into family dinners.

 


Head Chef Perry Mascitti

Spice up lunch with a Thai Pork Belly sandwich

Published on Wed, Sep 21, 2011 by Perry Mascitti, Executive Chef

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This sandwich hits all of the taste senses..... Sweet from diced mango and Sweet Thai Chile Best Foods' (Hellman's) mayonnaise; sharp acid from the macerated cabbage slaw; salty/nutty from the toasted salted peanuts; savory from the fresh cilantro; spicy from the chile mayo with the Sriracha chile sauce. And of course, the richness of the braised tender pork belly ties all of the flavors together.

All of these ingredients are stuffed into a warm crusty bun to bring you back to that comfort zone.

The nice thing about this sandwich is all of the components can be done way before service. The pork is braised ahead of time, large diced and warmed up in a pan per order. The bun is recommended to be warmed up on the grill or oven. All other ingredients are ready to go for quick assembly, creating a quick-to-serve dish.

Note: Recipe makes four 6" long sandwiches or 12 to 15 2" sliders.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

For the pork belly:

1 1/2-lb. Pork belly (you also can use pork shoulder or pork roast)

4 cups vinegar, rice variety or white

1 quart water

1 cup sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

Season pork belly on both sides with salt and pepper.

Place in roaster pan, add liquids and sprinkle all sugar on top of pork and in liquid. Cover pan well with foil, seal well around edges.

Roast for about 4 hours, or until very tender. Remove from roasting pan and in a hot large skillet brown both sides very dark. Let rest for about 30-40 minutes in pan and then large dice all. Remove excess fat if you wish. Refrigerate for later service or use immediately.



For the slaw:

1/2 cup thin shaved white or yellow onions (as close as you can get to paper thin as possible)

1 cup thinly sliced red bell peppers

4 cups of napa cabbage (#1 choice) or any other variety cabbage, thin sliced

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (do not use sweet seasoned)

Mix all 4 ingredients together in a stainless steel or glass bowl (non reactive to acid). Cover and refrigerate if not used right away.

For the special mayo:

1 cup Best Foods Mayonnaise ( or Hellman's)

1/2 cup sweet Thai chile sauce, (Mae Ploy type)

1 Tbsp. Sriracha sauce, or any red hot sauce

Mix well; cover and refrigerate if not used right away.

For garnish:

1/2 cup peanuts, toasted with 1/4 tsp. salt

1 cup Cilantro leaves, stems removed

3/4 cup mango, small diced (optional for sweetness/freshness/color)

To assemble:

Cut the top of four 6-7" buns. Place knife edge on top of roll lengthwise and slice down. Do not cut all the way through and open up a top "pocket." Warm bread.

Saute 4-5 oz. pork in hot skillet per sandwich

Spread about 2 T of Sweet Chile Best Foods Mayo on bread

Add about 3/4 cup to 1 cup of mixed slaw on the bread, draining excess vinegar

Add warmed up pork belly on top evenly

Add 1 T of more mayo-chile sauce to top of pork

Sprinkle peanuts, diced mango (optional) and cilantro leaves to the top

Serve with your favorite side dish and enjoy!

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