Pork Loin, Sauerkraut and Chard - Chef Recipe by Liam Scott

Ingredients

500g pork loin, skin and fat off
1 bunch rainbow chard, or silver beet, roughly chopped

Brine:

500mL water
25g sugar
50g salt
1 bay leaf
1/4 bunch thyme
2g pink peppercorns
4g fennel seeds
4 cardamom pods

Sauerkraut:

1/2 green cabbage
2% weight of cabbage in salt
Large pinch toasted and crushed fennel and caraway seeds

Sauce:

100g pork jus
50g cream
25g butter
Pinch of rosemary

Garnish:

Slippery Jack and pine mushroom powder mix (ground shiitake mushrooms also work)

Method

Sauerkraut:

You will need to make the sauerkraut 5 to 7 days in advance (unless you buy it at the shop).

Slice cabbage finely with a knife, or a mandolin and place in a large bowl.

Weigh the cabbage and add 2% of the weight in salt and the fennel and caraway seeds.

Massage all with your hands until it produces enough liquid to cover ingredients in a large jar. In the jar, use an outer leaf of the cabbage to press the mix under the liquid and put a lid on.

Sit for 5 to 7 days, letting it burp every 2 days.

Brining and preparing the pork:

Make sure all sinew is taken off the pork.

To make the brine, add all the ingredients into a pot and bring to the boil.

Cool brine to fridge temperature and cover the pork in the brine for 5 hours.

Then wash the pork in cold water and dry with a tea towel or paper towel. Roll pork with cling wrap until it forms a cylinder shape and sit in fridge for 1 hour (the longer the better) so it will hold that shape.

To cook:

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Heat a pan on the stove to medium-high heat, add olive oil.

Take cling wrap off pork, season lightly and place into pan lengthways. Get a nice light-brown colour on all sides by slowly turning pork around In the pan.

Add butter and rosemary and place in the oven to cook for roughly 3-5 minutes.

Rest for 2 minutes but don’t get rid of the pan as you will cook the rainbow chard until it’s just wilted.

While you are cooking the pork, you can make your sauce by heating the ingredients in a pot until combined.

To assemble:

Place the pork on top of the rainbow chard on a plate, then add as much sauce as you would like.

Place the sauerkraut nicely on top and finish by dusting mushroom powder.

You can then add some small edible herb as a garnish (we use yarrow).