This was Tuesday's supper. Pork sweet and sour was one of the first "exotic" dishes I ever learned to cook. My mother had a lot of cookery books (I think my father used to buy them for her). There was, I think, a fairly old early Chinese cookery book, perhaps by Kenneth Lo, but I think this recipe actually came from Robert Carrier's Great Dishes of the World - which was one of the few illustrated cook books I had access to. Now that I think of it, the reason I preferred The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook (black and white photos) and Mrs Beeton's Household Management (late 50's edition - with colour pictures) was because I used to read them when I was young - and ironically I always wanted to eat dishes that involved an awful lot of fancy piping. I say ironically, since my piping skills are laughable... I think it's lack of practice, but it could also be dyspraxia...
The Carrier book had quite a few pictures, but not all the dishes were illustrated - including some of the most memorable ones. This is what I can roughly remember of the recipe - for which I used rather tough belly pork (it should have been fillet!) - rather than this decidedly tender turkey breast.
The cover is roughly as I remember it, but ours rapidly lost its dust cover and was, naked, a terracotta coloured book with gold lettering. It's available "used" from Amazon for around £25.00. I have retrieved a copy from my mother's collection.
For a long time it was my ambition to go to the Carrier restaurant in Islington, which I used to live very close to. I now cannot remember if I did, I have a memory of it - but did we go in to ask to see the menu and then decide we couldn't afford it? It was very grand style Colefax and Fowler decor - Louis XV rococco mirrors and chairs, a destination, rather than a restaurant. I never did find out if the food was any good, needless to say, he wasn't in the kitchen himself, and I think the menu was more classic french than international - unless I am confusing it with Frederick's another great Islington institution of swollen poshness.
Turkey sweet & sour
With another substantial veg dish (I served stir fried mixed veg mixed with a lot of rice noodles) this should go around 4 people.
Two turkey breasts cut into 3-4 cm chunks, marinaded in a mix of dark soy (1 tbsp) and sherry or rice wine (1 tbsp) with chopped garlic and ginger. Marinade for "a bit" - an hour seems good, less would probably be fine. Then drain and roll in cornflour. Deep fry until brown and drain. Chop up 2 garlic cloves and about 1/2 inch piece of ginger root, don't worry about the peel, you'll be chopping it fine. Slice an onion, a pepper (preferably red) into fine slices and take strips of carrot with a potato peeler, if you have a tin of pineapple drain that (keep the juice) and add about half the fruit.
Mix 1 tbsp light soy,. 1 tbsp sherry, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar with a heaped tbsp of tomato puree and 1 tsp of cornflour, mix together, add about half the pineapple liquid, if there's any marinade left add that too. When ready to cook, fry the ginger and garlic in a little oil, then add slices of onion and allow them to soften slightly. Then add the fried meat, pour in the sauce mix let it combine and add the pepper, carrot and pineapple (if using). The sauce should thicken slightly and it is ready as soon as everything is hot. Obvs., if you like your veg limp, cook them first. The flavours should be adjusted for sweet-sour balance. Without the pineapple this mix is slightly sharp rather than sweet but still good. Chinese take-aways serve it a lot sweeter than this.
The cover is roughly as I remember it, but ours rapidly lost its dust cover and was, naked, a terracotta coloured book with gold lettering. It's available "used" from Amazon for around £25.00. I have retrieved a copy from my mother's collection.
For a long time it was my ambition to go to the Carrier restaurant in Islington, which I used to live very close to. I now cannot remember if I did, I have a memory of it - but did we go in to ask to see the menu and then decide we couldn't afford it? It was very grand style Colefax and Fowler decor - Louis XV rococco mirrors and chairs, a destination, rather than a restaurant. I never did find out if the food was any good, needless to say, he wasn't in the kitchen himself, and I think the menu was more classic french than international - unless I am confusing it with Frederick's another great Islington institution of swollen poshness.
Turkey sweet & sour
With another substantial veg dish (I served stir fried mixed veg mixed with a lot of rice noodles) this should go around 4 people.
Two turkey breasts cut into 3-4 cm chunks, marinaded in a mix of dark soy (1 tbsp) and sherry or rice wine (1 tbsp) with chopped garlic and ginger. Marinade for "a bit" - an hour seems good, less would probably be fine. Then drain and roll in cornflour. Deep fry until brown and drain. Chop up 2 garlic cloves and about 1/2 inch piece of ginger root, don't worry about the peel, you'll be chopping it fine. Slice an onion, a pepper (preferably red) into fine slices and take strips of carrot with a potato peeler, if you have a tin of pineapple drain that (keep the juice) and add about half the fruit.
Mix 1 tbsp light soy,. 1 tbsp sherry, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar with a heaped tbsp of tomato puree and 1 tsp of cornflour, mix together, add about half the pineapple liquid, if there's any marinade left add that too. When ready to cook, fry the ginger and garlic in a little oil, then add slices of onion and allow them to soften slightly. Then add the fried meat, pour in the sauce mix let it combine and add the pepper, carrot and pineapple (if using). The sauce should thicken slightly and it is ready as soon as everything is hot. Obvs., if you like your veg limp, cook them first. The flavours should be adjusted for sweet-sour balance. Without the pineapple this mix is slightly sharp rather than sweet but still good. Chinese take-aways serve it a lot sweeter than this.
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