Barbecued curried pork neck recipe by Charles Hopkins served with a crouton salad and paired with De Grendel Merlot.
Cook’s Tip
Source your meat from a trusted butcher as the quality is imperative. Ask for deboned, butterflied pork neck. ('My butcher vacuum packs it with a light, mild curry sauce. I let it marinate in the fridge for a couple of days to let the curry flavour soak into the meat.')
Ingredients
1 whole deboned pork neck, butterflied
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Marinade
125 ml apricot jam
4 shallots, sliced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
30 ml grated root ginger
5 curry leaves
90 ml mild curry powder
125 ml vegetable oil
10 ml ground cumin
5 ml fennel seeds
5 ml ground coriander
1 ml grated nutmeg
Recipe
Serves 6-8
To make the marinade, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the pork and rub all over with the marinade. Leave the pork laid flat in the bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Turn the pork over and marinate for a further 8 hours or more.
Prepare a big fire with plenty of coals. Reserve the leftover curry sauce when you take the meat out of the bowl. To seal the meat, barbecue pork neck briefly on both sides over hot coals. Then put the grid higher or move some of the coals to the side and cook the meat at a lower temperature, adding fresh hot coals as required. Turn regularly, as it has the tendency to burn quickly.
It takes about 40 minutes. Halfway through the process, add salt and pepper to taste. Towards the end, baste with the leftover curry sauce. Although pork should be well cooked, in this case you can get away with leaving it still delicately pink and succulent.
Serve with a crouton salad (Annalie: 'Croutons, Cheddar cheese blocks, chopped hard-boiled eggs and chopped pickled gherkins tossed in a mayonnaise and mustard sauce.') and quince preserve; or with some pan-fried Mediterranean-style vegetables.
Wine Pairing
De Grendel Merlot ('preferably a mature vintage')