This particular dish was new to me, but it did look interesting.

Time: 1 hr

Difficulty: 1/5

Ingredient Availability: 5/5

Who doesn’t like American take-out Chinese food? Although I don’t eat it very often, I really do enjoy it when I get it. I had never had this item before. I’ve heard of Kung Pao Chicken, but not pork, so this definitely piqued my interest. Being a Joshua Weissman recipe, I definitely had high expectations for the end result. One odd thing about this recipe is that it calls for roasted peanuts, which I had no intent on adding. I’ve come to learn that I really don’t find cooked nuts to improve any recipe or dish.

Key Ingredients and Omissions:

Like I just mentioned, I left out the peanuts. Nothing else has been omitted. Otherwise, none of the ingredients are special.

1. I did only slice about a pound of the pork butt, I froze the rest to use for another recipe

Tools:

• Wok (recommended by the recipe but not necessary)

Cooking Review:

Preparations (veg & pork) 25 minutes:

Before jumping into the first step of the recipe, I got all of the vegetables chopped and ready to go. I then sliced the pork into bite sized pieces. If you have trouble slicing the pork, you can put it in the freezer for a little bit so it can firm up a little bit.

Cornstarch and Sauce (10 minutes):

After all the prep was done, I seasoned the pork with salt and tossed it in cornstarch. It took a little bit of time to get the pork evenly coated in the starch, but eventually it worked out. I then mixed all the ingredients for the sauce. Pretty simple.

Cooking Pork: (5 Minutes)

It took 5 minutes to cook the pork though. The cooking time will obviously depend on how you slice your pork.  I noticed that the coated pork immediately sticks to the hot pan. It’s not too big of an issue, but it does make it a little difficult to stir to get even cooking. Once it was done, I took the meat out and set it aside.

Finishing: (7 minutes)

I didn’t add too much more oil to the pan, as the pork rendered a pretty good amount of extra fat. I added the vegetables and cooked them for 4 minutes before adding the pork back in to cook for a minute or so. Finally, the sauce was poured in and cooked through, coating everything.

Analysis:

This dish has a lot more flavor than what you’d think from the ingredients list. Well, you would probably think it would be well seasoned, but it’s the depth of flavor that’s surprising. As expected from takeout, it is slightly sweet, and I appreciate that it isn’t overly so. I like the peppers, which while not as satisfying to eat as the pork, are still a pretty nice flavor bomb. I think onions would have been a good addition to this recipe. With all thing considered, this recipe is getting a 9/10. Despite all the garlic, it’s not too garlicky. The sauce is great and clings well. Maybe there are a few too many peppers, but that’s nitpicking. I just don’t understand why you would want to taint it with peanuts.