Pickled Pork Hash

Yes. You read that right.

Pickled Pork Hash.

I had some leftover pickled pork from my Red Beans & Rice last week and I really needed to figure out what to do with it. I wasn't about to toss it out as it smelled so good in the pickling liquid. 

I figured that the pickled pork was much like corned beef, so I thought I should try a hash. Turns out, that this was probably the perfect application for the pork. 

The recipe is virtually identical to the Homemade Corned Beef Hash recipe I did before, just prepared slightly different because I was trying to make it different. 

Pickled Pork Hash

1 lb of leftover pickled pork (I actually only had about 12 oz, so whatever you have is fine)
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme

3 strips of bacon, diced

1/2 a large onion

1 teaspoon of sugar

1/4 cup of water

salt & pepper

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh thyme, minced

12 oz diced potatoes (I used frozen "southern style" hash browns)

2 bay leaves

1/2 cup of chicken broth

3/4 cup of heavy cream

==

Start by rinsing off the pork to remove all the little mustard seeds from the pickle. 

Place it in a pot big enough to hold it.

Pour in enough water to come to the top of the pork and a few sprigs of fresh thyme. 

Fired it up to a boil (covered), then drop the heat to a simmer. 

Mine only cooked for an hour until it was fall apart tender.

I know, looks kind of nasty, but it's delicious

 I separated the fat from the lean.

Mince of the fat (or you can toss it, I just wanted to see if it would turn out good and it did).

I put the fat over medium heat and waited for it to render.

While that's going, mince up the lean meat.

Once the pork fat has crisped up a bit, toss in the bacon.

I wanted the bacon to have a little more body for this hash, so I only let it cook for a couple of minutes. Definitely not crispy.

Toss in your onions and add salt & pepper.

Here's where I varied a bit. 

I threw in about a teaspoon of of sugar and 1/4 cup of water to the pan. 

I wanted the bacon to turn out a little bit like ham and sweeten up the hash a bit.

Also, toss in the bay leaves.

Let it cook over relatively high heat until all of the liquid is gone. Let it go maybe 5 minutes.

Add the thyme and garlic.

Cook for about a minute and add the minced pork.

Cook for another minute and add the potatoes. I just added them frozen.

Add the chicken broth and the heavy cream and let it go.

It'll take 20 minutes or more to cook the potatoes until they aren't crunchy anymore. I don't mind the time because it takes that long for all the flavors to mingle anyway.

If things aren't moving along and get too dry, add a little more cream. 

Cook until you get color on the bottom of the hash and the potatoes are soft. 

Remove the bay leaves before serving.

I like my hash with eggs and toast. 

I have been experimenting with different ways of making eggs and have come to like this way:

Spread the whites out in a small pan and let cook until the whites are almost set. They never seem to fully set for me before the yolk has hardened past where I want and 6 times out of 10, flipping the eggs ends up in at least one yolk busted. Which is not good. 

I just fold over one side of the whites on top of the yolks and the heat from that side will set the whites perfectly in about 30 seconds. 

Works like a charm for perfect yolks and completely done whites.

Anyway, this hash was outstanding. The pickled pork lent a totally different taste to the hash (than corned beef). It was sweet and tangy and creamy and salty. Delicious. If I ordered this in a restaurant, I'd be more than pleased. 

Please give the red beans and rice and try and then make the hash.

You will not be disappointed. I promise.

Enjoy!