I’m one of those people that associates holidays with certain types of food. Thanksgiving=turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce; St. Patrick’s Day = Corned beef boiled potatoes and cabbage. Easter then is… no surprise… ham. There’s a particular recipe I’m actually quite fond of in Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life for a Coca Cola Ham. Braising the ham in Coke reduces the salt content, softens the meat and adds a pleasant sweetness that’s simply irresistible.
The problem with ham of course is that they tend to come in 20lbs hunks and are not so conducive to NYC apartment cooking. My solution, while quite unhealthy, tastes better than ham, comes in any size you want and is cheaper than ham. I picked up a 3.5 lbs slab of smoked bacon from my favorite butcher Florence Prime Meats for around $13.50 and after a few hours braising in 275 degree oven, it came out mellow, melty and delicious. I’ve adapted Nigella’s recipe for this blog.
Units
Ingredients
- 2 - 3 pounds bacon slab of smoked with skin
- 3 tablespoons cherry jam
- ¼ Cup cherries dried
- 1 half vanilla bean split in lengthwise
- 15 cloves whole
- 1 Granny Smith apple peeled and sliced
- 1 cabbage small head of cored and shredded
Instructions
- Put the bacon in a large bowl and cover with water. Put it in the fridge overnight to reduce the amount of salt.
- Put the rack in the lower position and preheat your oven to 275 degrees.
- Place the bacon into a heavy pot that it will fit snugly into (you may want to cut it into 2-3 smaller pieces). Add the jam, vanilla, cloves, and cherries and pour enough Coke over to cover the pork.
- Bring it to a boil over the stove, cover and put it in the oven until the meat is fork tender (about 3 1/2 to 4 hours).
- Remove the bacon from the braising liquid and place it skin-side up on a rack over a baking sheet and tent with foil.
- Skim off the fat from the braising liquid and strain half of it into a sauce pan. Boil this until it is a nice syrupy sauce.
- Put the cabbage and apples into the other half and simmer until both are tender about 30-40 minutes
- When you're ready to serve, move the rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Uncover the bacon and put it in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the the skin is nice and crispy.
- Serve immediately with reduced braising liquid drizzled on top along with some of the braised cabbage and apples.
Notes
James says
This works really well with Dr. Pepper too. And I add some cherries (pitted) that get mashed and worked into the marinade and sauce. Delicious!
Marc Matsumoto says
Great idea James, thanks for sharing.
Kevin (Closet Cooking) says
Cherry coke braised bacon sounds so good!
James says
This works really well with Dr. Pepper too. And I add some cherries (pitted) that get mashed and worked into the marinade and sauce. Delicious!
Marc Matsumoto says
Great idea James, thanks for sharing.
Kevin (Closet Cooking) says
Cherry coke braised bacon sounds so good!
Evan says
oh my god.
coke and bacon.
you’ve shown me the way to the promised land.
when are you going to put up a pain perdu no-recipe?
Marc Matsumoto says
Now I know what to make you the next time you’re in town;-)
As for pain perdu, I’ll have to do a bit of research on that one.
Evan says
oh my god.
coke and bacon.
you’ve shown me the way to the promised land.
when are you going to put up a pain perdu no-recipe?
Marc Matsumoto says
Now I know what to make you the next time you’re in town;-)
As for pain perdu, I’ll have to do a bit of research on that one.
EricJM says
Sounds very good, but going to try with an affordable (usually under $10.00), and reasonably-sized Pernil. Very easy to obtain at any local supermarket and just pure pork, so no bacon additives like those usually contained in bacon or ham. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE bacon, but Pernil is a nice roast and it also has a skin like bacon that crisps wonderfully, and I think would be great with this Cherry Cola glaze. Thank you for the recipe idea. If possible, I’ll update with results as I will be making this upcoming weekend.
Marc Matsumoto says
Hi Eric, good luck! If you haven’t made it yet, you may want to cure the roast with some salt for a day or two. This will season it to it’s core while removing excess liquid from the meat.
EricJM says
Want to update my post by saying this worked perfectly with a Pernil (Picnic) roast. I used a 5 lb. roast, so I kept recipe measurements the same, as some of the weight would be bone.
Thanks for the tip, I decided to brine my roast (the skin sliced with a diamond pattern beforehand) in a salted water bath mixed with a can of the soda I was cooking with (cherry cola – not coke). To the brine I also added Bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, mustard seeds, chopped dried cherries, sliced lemon (to cut some of the sweetness), and cloves as well as crushed garlic, chopped fresh rosemary, crushed peppercorns and chopper fresh ginger. Basically, all flavors I like with pork, and others to further compliment flavors being cooked with.
I brined in a large covered pot with enough liquid to cover meat for 24 hours in the fridge, turning meat three times. (I did not plan for 24 hours for such fatty meat, but life happened and had to cook next day. It didn’t have any bad effect on the meat though).
It was cooked as you instructed, but in reviewing Nigella Lawson’s original recipe I also added an onion, as well as lemon zest and mustard powder to the braising liquid. I did not remove skin like Nigella suggested, instead I kept intact, covered it with some additional salt, mustard powder, and a coating of the cherry braising liquid and let it crisp as you directed in roasting pan.
Absolutely delicious, and the meat fell off the bone. The meat was not over-sweet, almost Asian-inspired, and the reduced braising liquid syrup was a delicious touch. Enjoyed by everyone.
The cabbage and apple dish for me was okay, but that is where the sweetness bothered me. Too candied. However, a nice slaw would be a good side dish. I know that sounds weird coming from someone with cherry cola, but I really don’t do sweet as an adult and just had these cans of soda left over from some guests and felt like being creative with them. I hate actually drinking them.
Now I will definitely make my Pernil this way in the future.