Tender and flavorful Asian Pork Pot Roast seasoned with dark soy sauce, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves. Delicious served with rice or mashed potatoes.
Pot roast using an entire chunk of meat is not something that is regularly prepared in a Chinese kitchen. Instead, the meat is cut into smaller pieces and braised. Hence, both methods are very similar in that the meat is cooked for a reasonable amount of time in liquid.
Mom’s Beef Pot Roast
When I was growing up, we seldom ate beef because Mom did not eat beef back then. However, occasionally she would cook beef because Dad enjoys beef and she has no objections to us children eating beef. For a person who does not eat beef, she made a mean Asian style beef pot roast that is superbly tender, juicy, and flavorful. I remember it being such a treat when she did prepare this pot roast and served it with mashed potatoes. It was amazing!
Using Pork Instead of Beef
So, why am I using pork today instead of beef? For some reason, I am not able to find a chunk of beef tenderloin when I decided to make this pot roast. They are usually cut into pieces and sold as filet mignon. I could probably use chuck roast but decided to pick up a pork loin instead when I was at the grocery store because it was on sale. The recipe works beautifully with either pork loin or beef tenderloin. The only difference is the cooking time. The next time, I will have to make an order with the butcher for a beef tenderloin. Maybe I should make that a Christmas project and place an order now.
As such, I am going to show you how to prepare this Asian Pork Pot Roast using Mom’s recipe. I have made this many times and it has never failed me. This time is no different. The sauce was awesome! I hope you will give it a try.
Similar Tools Used in Making This Asian Pork Pot Roast
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Le Creuset Signature Enameled Cast-Iron 5-Quart Oval French (Dutch) Oven
Pyrex Prepware 1-Cup Measuring Cup
INGREDIENTS
- 1 boneless pork loin (3 lbs / 1.35 kg)
- 10 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 8 cloves
- 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1½ cup water (360ml)
- 1 tbsp corn starch mixed with 2 tbsp water
INSTRUCTIONS
- Using a boning knife (or similar), insert the knife just under the silver skin and slice all the way through the side until all the silver skin is removed.
- Make 10 deep incisions in pork loin. Stuff garlic cloves in the incisions.
- Sprinkle the pork loin all over with salt and pepper.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven. Place pork loin garlic side down and allow it to brown for 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the pork loin over and brown the other side for another 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add cinnamon stick, star anise, and cloves. Drizzle dark soy sauce over the top of pork loin.
- Pour water into the dutch oven and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes. Half way through, flip the pork loin once.
- When done, remove pork loin and whole spices from the dutch oven. Cover pork loin with aluminum foil to keep warm.
- Pour cornstarch mixture into the dutch oven and let it come back to a boil. Cook until thick and bubbly. Turn off stove.
- Slice pork loin and drizzle sauce over the top.
NUTRITION
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