Sweet and Sticky Pork (HelloFresh)

Unless you've been living under a rock, most of us would have seen HelloFresh advertised outdoors or on the internet. The claims of saving money and time whilst reducing food waste seem too good to be true, but now that we're living through a cost-of-living and food shortage crisis, it's time to put HelloFresh to the test.

In the next couple of weeks, we will go through the various recipes sent by HelloFresh and judge the whole process from start to finish. As someone that enjoys cooking at home, I will be grading the meals out of 5★ on the following criteria:

1) Recipe Instructions: Are the instructions clear, correct, and allow a smooth cooking experience without wasting time?

2) Recipe Technique: Will we experience ingredients not commonly used, learn something new, and try cooking techniques that will better us as home cooks?

3) Final Product: How did the meal turn out? How does it look, smell and taste? Would I cook this again? Most importantly, did my partner enjoy it? This verdict will be split between us, awarding 5 points each.

Therefore, the best possible score the recipe can receive is 20 ★

Once I created my HelloFresh account and subscribed to the programme, I waited patiently for my first box. The HelloFresh App allows easy switches to which recipes you want and offer a wide selection of choices. If you wish to have more premium products, such as steaks or 'Ultimate Recipes' (which seem to be more significant portions), you can pay a little extra for the more premium products.

Despite the possibility of upgrades, we will be sticking to the standard meals offered with our subscription unless otherwise given as a perk. HelloFresh likes to provide rewards in the form of upgrades, discounts, and credit, so if anything extra is given, we will not refuse it. Let's begin with our first recipe, the Sweet and Sticky Pork.

This delicious Sweet & Sticky Pork has been expertly designed by our chefs as a lighter option to help with a balanced lifestyle. - HelloFresh

HelloFresh states that the recipe is of medium difficulty and should take 30 minutes to cook. Let's see how we get on!

Ingredients Provided

10 grams Vegetable Stock Paste (Contains Celery)

Bulgur Wheat (Contains Cereals containing gluten)

1 Garlic Clove

1 Bell Pepper

2 Spring Onions

2 Pork Steaks

10 grams Cornflour

2 sachets Rice Vinegar

2 sachets Ketjap Manis (Contains Soya)

Ingredients not Included:

240 millilitres of Water for the Bulgur Wheat

Salt and Pepper

Sugar

Step 1: Cook the Bulgur Wheat

Pour the water for the bulgur wheat (see ingredients for amount) into a large saucepan, stir in the veg stock paste and bring to the boil.

Stir in the bulgur, bring back up to the boil and simmer for 1 min. Pop a lid on the pan and remove from the heat.

Leave to the side for 12-15 mins or until ready to serve.

I was pretty excited about this recipe as I have never cooked with bulgur wheat at home. The app provides a timer that lets you know how long to boil the wheat and for how long to let it sit aside. As this step would take a large chunk of our time, it's good to see that the recipe takes this into account, which frees up waiting time to prepare other parts of the dish. Leaving the wheat aside with the lid on allows the wheat to steam and absorb the leftover liquid and stock.

The vegetable stock paste smells nice; however, I'm the type of person that likes to know what's in my food from the very base and the stock packet lacked information on what the stock paste is made of. This makes it hard to make the dish again as I don't know the ingredients of the vegetable stock paste.

Step 2: Get Prepped

Meanwhile, peel and grate the garlic (or use a garlic press).

Halve the pepper and discard the core and seeds. Chop into 2cm pieces.

Trim and thinly slice the spring onions. Keep the white and green parts separate.

This is a good use of our time while the wheat sits aside. It isn't quite Mise en Place, the French term for having all your ingredients prepared and ready before cooking, but instead considers waiting times as part of the recipe. More complex dishes, however, allow shorter timeframes in between steps which Mise en Place, hence the need for it.

I like how the recipe separates the green and white parts of the spring onion. There is a difference in texture and flavour, so using them strategically in a recipe will bring great taste, both within the dish and as a garnish.

I will say that using 1 clove of garlic is just plain wrong. As the size of garlic depends on the bulb provided, I tend to use a minimum of 2 cloves of garlic in my cooking. I want to taste the garlic rather than have a hint of it lingering underneath the body of the dish. Also, there isn't a way of deciding on the colour of your pepper. It isn't that much of an impact in regards to the dish's flavour; however, I do have preferences with which colour I cook, depending on the colours the plate will bring.

I like to paint with my ingredients, and the plate is my canvas.

Step 3: Coat the Pork

Cut the pork into 2cm chunks.

Sprinkle the cornflour into a bowl and season with salt and pepper, then mix well.

Add the pork and toss to coat thoroughly. IMPORTANT: Wash your hands and equipment after handling raw meat.

This is another cooking technique that deserves more recognition than it currently gets. Coating the pork in cornflour creates a coating for the pork that seals in the flavour and provides a protective layer for the meat to stop it from drying out and keeps it tender. Not only that, it helps create a fantastic smooth, glossy sauce for the pork that quite literally shines in the light. It's a simple yet effective way of cooking meat commonly used in Asian cuisine.

This is a simple coating using salt and pepper, which should be a staple in any kitchen, which allows the pork flavour to come through. You could marinate the pork overnight; however, as the recipe doesn't instruct this, we will follow the recipe's simplicity. Missing the marinade doesn't make the dish worse off, as simplicity does have its merits. It just skips a flavour boost that I enjoy adding to my cooking.

Step 4: Get Frying

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large frying pan on medium-high heat.

When hot, add the pork and stir-fry for 2-3 mins. Reduce the heat to medium and stir-fry until browned all over and cooked through, another 4-6 mins. IMPORTANT: The pork is cooked when no longer pink in the middle.

Once cooked, transfer the pork to a plate lined with kitchen paper to absorb any excess fat.

Frying the pork made the whole kitchen smell amazing. I find that pork can be the easiest meat to go wrong, as if not done correctly, it can become dry and tough. In my opinion, there is nothing worse than tough pork. This is where the cornflour shines through. The pork almost shines in its crispy layer and tastes fantastic. Simplicity at its best.

I hate to waste anything, so discarding the pork fat is not something I'm happy with. You can use it to elevate mashed potatoes or fry the best eggs of your life; however, as the recipe doesn't instruct its use, I poured the fat into a small jar and stored it in my fridge for later use. This flavour can't be bought inside a store, so don't throw it away!

This is also the stage where the bulgur wheat timer finished, and as we're nearly at the end of our cooking process, I'd say the timings work pretty well. Now that the wheat had absorbed all the liquid, I left the lid on and allowed it to sit and steam until ready to serve.

Step 5: Bring on the Veg

In a small bowl, mix the rice vinegar with a pinch of sugar (if you have any), then set aside.

Wipe out the (now empty) frying pan and return to medium heat with a drizzle of oil. Once hot, add the pepper and stir-fry until golden, 4-5 mins.

Add the garlic and the whites of the spring onions, then cook for 1 min more. Stir in the vinegar mixture and ketjap manis, then bring to a simmer.

I don't understand why we had to discard the pork fat to replace it with oil... so much wasted flavour!

The timings for cooking the pepper will still provide a bite, and the spring onion whites are tougher than the green, meaning it won't wilt as quickly in the heat.

Ketjap Manis is the ingredient that I am most excited to cook with. It's a popular sweet and salty soy sauce from Indonesia that brings through fantastic flavour and texture, as it acts as a quick marinade for our vegetables. It's something I have never cooked with before, and after tasting it on its own, I can't wait to use it in the future. It's Soy Sauce and so much more! Cooking it with rice vinegar and sugar adds sweetness, acidity, and extra liquid for the Ketjap Manis to form a sauce.

Also, there is nothing better than the smell of garlic in the kitchen. I loooove garlic.

Step 6: Finish and Serve

Return the pork to the pan and stir to coat well in the sauce. Cook until piping hot, 2-3 mins.

Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Add a splash of water if the sauce is a little thick.

When ready, fluff up the bulgur wheat with a fork and spoon into your bowls. Top with the sticky pork and sprinkle over the greens of the spring onion to finish. Enjoy!

The Ketjap Manis covered the pork and vegetables well, and the longer it cooked, the thicker the sauce got. I added a splash of water to loosen the sauce so it could cover the bulgur wheat when served.

Returning the pork to the pan didn't dry it out and it remained soft, tender and crispy. This is why cornflour is a must in this recipe.

The Wheat is still lovely and hot and ready to be served, and the green spring onion is excellent as a garnish as it would have wilted in the heat if cooked together beforehand. A smart way of maximising the spring onion's texture and crisp flavour.

The Final Verdict

And here it is - Sweet and Sticky Pork with Pepper, Bulgur Wheat and Spring Onion!

Recipe Instructions 4/5 ★★★★

The instructions were clear, and the timings of the recipe worked well. The wheat sat for a while while the pork cooked; however, that didn't affect the product when served. The longest waiting time in the recipe was when stir-frying the peppers (4/5 mins), followed by adding extra layers of flavour to the pan. A smooth cooking experience that utilised the longest cooking time for prep and adding layers of flavour to the pork. I'm still a big fan of Mice en Place, so preparing the ingredients mid-recipe is not something I liked, despite fitting within the given timeframe.

Recipe Technique: 4/5 ★★★★

I used two ingredients I hadn't used before, which made the experience exciting. If a recipe can introduce me to something new and leave a good lasting expression, it receives a gold star from me! The ingredients came fresh; however, the spring onion could have been delivered better, as I did have to replace it with one that wasn't snapped.

Final Product: David: 4 ★★★★ | Atlas: 4 ★★★★

The final product tasted great. The wheat absorbed the Ketjap Manis's flavour, and the splash of water took the sauce much further. The vegetables were soft with a nice crunch, and the pork was tender and crispy. As you can see in the above photo, the recipe is suitable as a meal to eat at home and at work. My partner had a long shift ahead of them, so having this as a meal to look forward to was great. They loved the sweetness and acidity of the dish and, just like I, fell in love with the bulgur wheat. I am sure it will become a staple for us in the future.

I would have preferred a green pepper as there is already a good amount of orange and red in the recipe, which would have looked fantastic. In fact, the recipe photos provided by HelloFresh use a green pepper which my guess is for this exact reason. Also, more garlic. 1 clove is just not enough!

Overall, the Sweet and Sticky Pork scored 16/20 ★, not bad for the first recipe!

The next recipe we will review is Stir-Fried Hoisin Chicken Noodles with Pepper, Sugar Snap Peas and Cashews - and we cannot wait!

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