Pickled Pork

I don’t know if you can get pickled pork outside Australia, but it’s quite common here. My mum used to by a piece of it every year for Christmas, but we buy it about once a month as it’s pretty cheap and great cold on sandwiches. It’s very similar to corned beef which we also cook for lunch meat so I came up with this way of cooking it to give it a flavour of its own. We love it still warm with a German type potato salad and mustard on the first night.

• Ready In: 2 hrs 5 mins
• Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 3  tablespoons brown sugar
• 3  tablespoons white vinegar
• 1  onion, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2  garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
• 1  teaspoon peppercorn, lightly crushed
• 2  slices  orange peel (about 2 inches each)
• 1  star anise
• 1 1⁄2 kg  pickled pork

Directions

1. Mix the first 7 ingredients and a couple of cups of cold water together in a saucepan large enough to hold the piece of pork.
2. Add the pork and more water (enough to cover the pork); give it all a bit of a stir around to combine.
3. Bring to the boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer; cook for 2 hours (40 minutes per 500g of meat).
4. Allow to cool for about 2 hours in the stock.