Pork chops in master stock

Serves 4

Preparation time: 15 minutes   
Cooking time:
1 hour

The idea of a master stock is to make it then use it to poach with and then you keep it to re-use it again and again (think sour dough starter).  The deep rich flavours will develop over time and it improves with age.  You can either keep in the fridge for a week or freeze it.  Always boil before using when you first reuse it.

Ingredients
320g Jasmin rice
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp soft brown sugar or honey
½ tsp crushed chillies
Juice of ½ lime
600ml master stock
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tbsps oil
4 thick cut pork chops
1 bunch of asparagus
Chiu chow chilli oil to taste

For the Master Stock
2 litres of chicken stock
150ml dark soy sauce
150ml light soy sauce
100ml shaoxing rice wine
2 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
½ tsp Szechuan peppercorns
1 heaped tbsp rock sugar
2 pieces tangerine peel or 2 tbsp tangerine chips
2 cloves
½ tsp white peppercorns
80g ginger
4 spring onions
4 garlic cloves
1 black cardamom pod
1 tsp sesame oil

Method
Put all the ingredients for the master stock into a very large saucepan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 45 minutes.  If you have a master stock already, just bring to the boil.

When you are about 20 minutes away from eating, bring a large pot of water to the boil and add the salt. Once on a rolling boil, add the rice, stir and lower to heat to a medium high heat and cook for 10-12 minutes until just cooked.  Drain off the water, put the rice back into the pan, cover with a tea towel and leave for 3 minutes.  After the 3 minutes, take a fork and fluff up.

Meanwhile, once the stock has cooked, take out 600ml and put into a saucepan and add to the rest of the ingredients except the pork, asparagus and chiu chow.  Bring to the boil and cook on medium high with the lid on (this stops it reducing so much it becomes far too salty) and cook while you cook the pork.

Heat a large frying pan over a medium high heat.  Rub the oil on the chops and season with salt and pepper and place into the frying pan.  Cook for 7 minutes on the first side and around 5 minutes once you have turned, they should now been cooked through.

Take the chops and put them fat side down into the pan, this may take some balancing.  Add a tbsp of oil and sear until the fat is crispy golden and lovely, you might need to do this in two parts depending on how curved the fat is.  Put the asparagus into the pan and cook alongside the pork.  Remove the pork when cooked while you finish off.

Put a large spoonful of rice into each bowl, cut the asparagus into 4cm chunks and divide between the 4 bowls.  Cut your pork chops into strips or chunks, cover each dish with master stock and finish with some chiu chow chilli oil.