Orange Pork

1 1/2 lbs of pork loin or real thick center cut chops
1 cup orange juice
2-3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp ginger
1 tbl brown sugar
juice from 1 lemon
1/2 cup chopped onion (you could use shallots too)
pinch of cayenne
salt for salting meat
a pinch of black pepper

Trim the pork, cut it into 1 inch cubes (or so) and salt it a little. Heat up some oil (or butter) in a medium hot pan and brown the pork on all sides. Do it in batches, it needs some room between chunks to brown well. While the pork is cooking mix together the juices, brown sugar and pepper. Take the meat out and brown the onion. Let the onion brown for a bit then add the ginger and garlic. Cook for a 30 seconds or so, then deglaze the pan with the orange juice mixture. Put the pork back in and simmer, covered, till tender. Take the cover off and reduce until it is thick enough to really cling to the meat. Serve over rice or egg noodles or with mashed potatos.

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I got this recipe from my brother, in a different form. I don't remember it exactly since it was over the phone, rushed, written (poorly) on an envelope and a little tipsy. But this is what it is now. It's also good with pineapple orange juice, instead of just orange, and a splash of vinegar. It pretty much makes it sweet and sour sauce. You can serve it over rice or noodles or something like that. Or how I like it, with mashed potatos. If I'm serving it with mashed potatos, I don't season the potatos too much since the sauce is very flavorful. Just salt, pepper and butter usually. Ok, first you trim up the pork and cut it into chunks.

Big chunks can cook longer in the sauce, so I go for 1 inch or so. This time around I didn't gauge quite right and got thinner ones. Oh well. Heat up some oil or butter in a hot, but not smoking, pan. While the pan is heating is a good time to mix together the juices, sugar, cayenne and pepper. If you are using powdered ginger or garlic instead of fresh for some reason, put them in the liquid now too. Unless you have a huge pan you will want to brown the pork in batches so they get a good crust. Brown them up on all the sides you can but don't worry about cooking them, they are going to simmer in the sauce for some time. Once all your meat is browned toss in the onion. Brown that up as much as you can, but don't burn the fond on the bottom there. Add the garlic and ginger in with the onions right at the end and just sautee it all for 20-30 seconds or so. Then pour in the sauce. Scrap the up all the lovely brown stuff and bring the sauce just to a boil. Reduce heat to low and dump the meat back in. Cover it up and let it simmer until it's just getting tender, about 15-20 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to simmer until the sauce is really thick. If you don't want to wait too long, or if you already have the amount of sauce you want, just mix in a corn starch roux and thicken it up that way. If you are serving it over pasta then you will want a thinner sauce than if you are serving it with something. That it's not on top of. You know what I mean.