Smoky and Sweet: Black Vinegar Pork

When it comes to food, I generally dont think in absolutes. Shunning all carbs or all sugar just doesnt make any sense to me, unless you have a health condition that requires it. Our bodys needs are too nuanced to be dictated to by strict diets and that doesnt even account for the gustatory needs of our souls. But there are certain things that I dont see a place for on my dinner plate and they include things like pesticides, food coloring, MSG and preservatives. Sure you can make an argument that these things have been proven safe by currently available science, but the bottom line is that I dont see the point in adding things to food that arent necessary. Take MSG for example. Its just a sodium compound that mimics amino acids found in many food and makes food taste better say supporters. But why do you need to add a lab synthesized compound when you can just use whole foods that are high in glutamic acids? There are some foods though whose very identity seems to be defined by some of these additives. Take sweet and sour pork for example. Deep-fried and covered in a sugary sauce, its never going to qualify as health food. But are the cherry red color, high-fructose corn syrup, and the MSG really necessary? Those are the questions I asked myself as I struggled to reconcile my craving for pagoda boxed junk food with my culinary beliefs. My solution was to reinvent this dish - black vinegar pork. To give it flavor and color I used black vinegar. Like rice vinegar, its made by fermenting rice to first make wine and then allowing the process to continue to turn the alcohol into acetic acid. But black vinegar is then aged, giving it a mellow sweetness and a complex smoky flavor. Its like the Asian equivalent of balsamic vinegar. By coating the pork in potato starch rather than batter, it absorbs less oil while retaining the ability to hold on the sauce. Thickened by caramelizing the ingredients, the sauce for its part, is intensely fruity and aromatic, clinging to the meat like polyester in a disco. Some may argue that what I created isnt sweet and sour pork, but it sates that craving for juicy chunks of pork coated in a flavorful sweet and sour glaze, which is good enough for me.

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Marc Matsumoto is a culinary consultant and recipe repairman who shares his passion for good food through his website norecipes.com. For Marc, food is a life long journey of exploration, discovery and experimentation and he shares his escapades through his blog in the hopes that he inspires others to find their own culinary adventures. Marcs been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today, and has made multiple appearances on NPR and the Food Network.