Pictorial: Pork Chops, Honey Garlic Sauce

[hzrt8w]

That malt syrup is not easy to work with...it is sooo sticky. Felt like I was pulling sugar.

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Malt sugar is hard to handle. One easier way is to scoop one big spoonful of malt sugar and place it in a bowl. Add some water. Microwave to heat up the whole thing. Once heated up, malt sugar becomes much softer. Stir and dilute it in water before adding honey to the mixture. Just as illustrated in the pictures.

[Marco_Polo]

Oh boy, was this good, hzrt8w. Thanks so much for sharing!

My method was a bit improvissamento.

I cut my pork strips perhaps a tad on the thick side, dusted with white pepper and salt, a bit of cornflour, and a splash of dry oloroso, left to marinade for an hour or so. Meanwhile, made up the sugar, honey, water and garlic mix, plus lots of extra chopped garlic.

I stir-fried rather than shallow fried in a wok over high heat, but as my pieces were fairly thick and I had too much meat to cook in a flash, I first browned, then added the chopped garlic plus a little broth, then covered and steam/braised for around ten minutes or so. Then I deglazed with a splash of wine vinegar, scraped the bits off the bottom of the pan, and added the sugar and honey mixture, boiled down until it was a glossy sauce.

Kids loved it, wife loved it, I loved it. Meant to take a picture but it disappeared too fast. I love your simple but inspirational recipes for home cooking which allow for much personal interpretation. Thanks again!

MP

[torakris]

..... I can't find malt sugar anywhere.

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Don't worry about malt sugar. Using any brown sugar would do.

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I was even out of brown sugar, so I used just plain white sugar and it turned out great.

This dish just screams out for white rice!

[zaskar]

Can Malt Syrup be substituted for Maltose (Malt Sugar)?

I bought some Malt Syrup from a Korean Market in Baltimore.

One is clear, made with Corn Starch, Glucose and Water. The other is darker, made with Malt, Glucose, Fructose and Water.

I know Barley Malt Syrup is used in bread baking and in other forms to brew beer.

[hzrt8w]

Can Malt Syrup be substituted for Maltose (Malt Sugar)?

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I think so. Just adjust for the quantity to get the right consistency.

[BarbaraY]

I made this for our dinner last evening. I used barley malt syrup since that's what I had. I don't know if it tastes anywhere near what you used but it was delicious and my daughter likes it, too. Didn't take time to get pics. Maybe next batch.

We had steamed Jasmine rice and Stir-fried Bok Choy with it.

[Spinner]

I made this for dinner this evening when things died down in the kitchen.

Dude, great job!

I had saved this the other day because it really caught my eye and I was not let down. Intense flavors and the honey really helps to bring the punchiness of the garlic into a nice smooth symphony of flavors.

hzrt8w..this is great stuff! Thanks..

Im very interested in this new offering for Lemon Chicken..it's almost playful..using Lemonade and all. I shall try it!

[hzrt8w]

Thank you for your kind feedbacks, all. By all means try the lemon chicken, and any of the other 28 recipes so far in my series.

Sometimes I am kind of debating in my mind whether to post some real Chinese recipes geared towards Chinese audience, or "less" Chinese recipes geared towards non-Chinese audience.

[Pan]

What do you consider the things you have posted so far?

[hzrt8w]

What do you consider the things you have posted so far?

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Out of the 30 recipes I have posted so far, 28 of them are authentic Chinese dishes. Most of them are Cantonese style. The exceptions are Imperial Shrimp, Mapo Tofu, Chicken with Cashew Nuts, and White Bass Braised with Bean/Soy Sauce.

Chicken with Butter and Black Pepper is a bit of fusion.

Lemon Chicken is the one that is perhaps considered more Americanised. You probably won't find it on the menus in restaurants in Hong Kong.

[BarbaraY]

I made this once again with Jasmine rice and stir-fried broccoli. It is just too good not to have often.

[hzrt8w]

What a coincident! I made this again just 2 days ago. This time, I dashed in about 2 tsp of ShaoHsing cooking wine along with the white vinegar. It really jazzed up the taste by a notch.

[BarbaraY]

I'll remember that for the next batch.

[chappie]

A couple of questions:

I have palm sugar I purchased for making Pad Thai. Would this work as a substitute for the maltose or is regular brown sugar better? Secondly, would throwing a dried chili or two in with the sauce ruin the flavor balance?

[Gastro888]

From what I understand palm sugar is milder in flavor than maltose or regular brown sugar. I think it should be an acceptable substitution, however, you might not get as strong sweet flavor to contrast with the garlic. Chiles are always nice. =)

[Pan]

Manisan/gula Melaka/palm sugar is fragrant and a bit smokey, in my experience (I remember the disks we used to get in the village). It tastes something like sorghum syrup and is comparable to but not quite as delicious or fragrant (sort of rich-tasting) as maple sugar (i.e., I would be careful about substituting maple sugar of any kind for palm sugar). I'm not sure what maltose tastes like by itself, but based on my experience in eating sweets made with it, I actually have the impression that it's subtler than palm sugar and lacks the smokey overtones.

So, who has had both maltose and palm sugar by themselves? If you have, please give us your empirical comparisons.

[hzrt8w]

I have palm sugar I purchased for making Pad Thai. Would this work as a substitute for the maltose or is regular brown sugar better? Secondly, would throwing a dried chili or two in with the sauce ruin the flavor balance?

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Regular brown sugar or white sugar would work well with this recipe. I haven't tasted palm sugar so I cannot comment. I suspect the palm taste may be predominant, which may be good (if you like it) or bad (if you don't like it). Just try and see. Adding dried chilies... it's a personal taste. I don't use chili in this dish because I want to appreciate the sweetness of the honey.

[Gastro888]

I suppose to each their own. The palm sugar in the States definitely can't compare to the Malaysian palm sugar. (It's more fresh, it didn't have to travel across the globe to get to you, etc, etc) Thai palm sugar is more available in my area and in my experience, it's rather mild (ie, no smokey flavor). But everyone has different taste buds so my suggestion is just to try it hzrt8w's way first and then go ahead with your adaptations. That way you can accurately compare the differences.

[Dejah]

What's wrong with staying with honey? The recipe is for honey-garlic pork chops!

[Tepee]

Manisan/gula Melaka/palm sugar is fragrant and a bit smokey, in my experience (I remember the disks we used to get in the village). ...maltose [is] subtler than palm sugar and lacks the smokey overtones.

So, who has had both maltose and palm sugar by themselves? If you have, please give us your empirical comparisons.

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Yes, exactly like Michael said. Maltose is subtler. I'd use maltose for its stickiness. Palm sugar will not give that. Good gula melaka are very fragrant. Yum! In my little mind, I always associate maltose with toasted sesame seeds, and gula melaka with all things coconut.

[Ben Hong]

What's wrong with staying with honey? The recipe is for honey-garlic pork chops! 

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DITTO, DITTO, DITTO

[Gastro888]

<waves gai mo sow>

...so my suggestion is just to try it hzrt8w's way first and then go ahead with your adaptations.  That way you can accurately compare the differences.

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Ai ya! That's what I said...try it the original way first THEN go for some palm sugar/brown sugar/maple syrup/etc changes...if you want to.

[chappie]

Well I made this Saturday, using the palm sugar/water/honey mixture and I think from all descriptions here that maltose must be the way to go for its stickiness. I also used about seven cloves of garlic, to which I couldn't keep myself from dashing some crushed red pepper flake. (This may be heresy, but I also used four or five Sichuan peppercorns -- and liked the result).

It's a great dish I'll definitely tinker with on my own. I couldn't find cilantro, which surely would've helped.

Oh, and (perhaps more heresy?) I added broccoli.

[Ben Hong]

Oh, and (perhaps more heresy?) I added broccoli.

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Heresy? Nah, but be reminded that this is strictly a meat dish, not a one pot meal. (But then there must be at least one person in the world who would add broccoli to his fish and chips too).

[chappie]

Also I found with my leftovers that a splash of soy was a nice addition. I'll pick up some maltose at Great Wall in Fairfax next time I'm over there, though, so I can try it the way it was meant to be.

Keep up the great work, hzrt8w — your pictorals are great and I'm looking forward to making tomato beef in the next few weeks.