photo – Karen Anderson
Humanely raised pork is a great ingredient. Yesterday, I wrote about a few Alberta Pork Producers that are raising their animals humanely. Today, I’d like to share the recipe for the beautiful pork salad rolls pictured above. Consider them an added incentive to go out and find some of these products. You can nourish a new direction for the pork industry as you nourish yourself.
This recipe was created by a wonderful cook that I know; chef Duncan Ly of the Hotel Arts in Calgary. Ly shared this recipe for a PBS television show called Off the Beaten Palate. I was the production assistant for that show when they visited Alberta and one of my jobs was to line up chefs and farms to highlight Alberta’s culture and cuisine. Ly’s food is so beautiful in both taste and style that I was thrilled when he agreed to participate. I had previously guided chef Ly on a visit to Spragg’s Meats pork farm and I knew he loved the taste of their product. We were all thrilled with the beauty of the dish he presented.
This post will share chef Ly’s recipe in both a written and video format.
You can watch chef Ly make his salad rolls in this video from Off the Beaten Palate’s Alberta. If you watch the video you’ll also get to see what happy and healthy pastured-raised pigs look like.
The salad rolls really do taste as good as they look and if you are hungry for more of chef Ly’s food I’m happy to tell you that he just got his first signature restaurant – Raw Bar by Duncan Ly at Calgary’s chic Hotel Arts. The restaurant celebrates Ly’s heritage as a Vietnamese-Thai Albertan.
Way to go Duncan! I’m so proud to know you. Your food helps me Savour it All. Cheers, Karen
Chef Duncan Ly’s Vietnamese Pork Salad Rolls
From Off the Beaten Palate
Serves 4
Notes to the Cook
There are two things you’ll need to make before you can wrap these rolls – an Asian barbecued pork loin and the dipping sauce known as nuoc cham. You’ll also need to do some slicing and dicing so read the whole recipe, have everything in place, and you’ll find it as easy as Duncan Ly makes it look in the video. That’s one of a great chef’s secrets; they are really well-prepared people and you can be too!
Duncan Ly’s Barbecued Pork Loin
2 lb pork loin
Marinade ingredients
½ t. Chinese 5 spice powder
2 T. honey
2 T. sherry
1 T. hoisin
1 T. chili sauce
1 T. dark soy sauce
2 t. oyster sauce
2 cloves of garlic, grated
Place all marinade ingredients into a Ziploc bag and mix well.
Add the pork lion to the marinade bag and push out as much air as possible so the meat is completely macerated in the liquid.
Let it sit in the fridge for at least 2 days, flipping the bag over once in awhile to ensure the meat is evenly marinated.
Roast the pork lion in a 275 degree F oven on a wire rack over a drip tray for 30 minutes or until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 145 degrees F.
Reserve the remaining marinade, reduce it over low heat in a sauce pan and use it to baste the pork loin every 5-7 minutes.
Let the pork cool, tented with foil and resting on a rack for at least 15 minutes and then slice thinly.
Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 t. sambal olek (chili paste)
3 T. sugar
Juice of 2 limes
4 T. fish sauce
1 c. water
Combine all ingredients in a small pot except the lime juice.
Bring to a boil and remove from the heat.
Cool and then add the lime juice.
Place the sauce into a refrigerator and chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
Wrapping the salad rolls
1 ripe mango julienned
1 cucumber julienned
1 red pepper julienned
8 large cooked shrimp, peeled, deveined and cut in half
8 oz bbq pork thinly sliced (see recipe)
3 T. chopped fresh Thai basil
3 T. chopped fresh mint leaves
2 leaves green leaf lettuce, chopped
1 pkg of rice salad roll wrappers
¼ c. nuoc cham (see recipe)
Fill a large bowl with hot tap water.
Dip one wrapper into the hot water for 1-2 seconds until it becomes soft.
Lay the wrapper flat on a flat surface covered with a piece of plastic wrap.
Spread – in a row across the centre of the wrapper – 2 shrimp halves,4 slices of the pork, and some mango, cucumber, red pepper, basil, mint, and lettuce.
Leave about 2 inches uncovered on each side.
Fold the uncovered sides inward starting at the bottom and progressing left and right and then tightly roll the wrapper, beginning at the end with the lettuce to form a roll.
Repeat with remaining ingredients to form more rolls.
Hint: watch the video – its way easier than it sounds.
Slice the rolls into 3-4 pieces each and place on a plate.
Garnish with cucumber and carrot spirals (optional) and drizzle the nuoc cham.
