Dan Dan Noodles

During Pork Week, we learn a lot about the pork industry – and get some good recipes for cooking with pork! Taylor Spronk works with pigs every day as a veterinarian and she also likes to cook with pork. She shares a recipe that normally uses ground pork, but Taylor likes to substitute pork loin instead. She altered this recipe from Serious Eats.

Ingredients:

For the Roasted Chile Oil Vinaigrette:

• 1/2 cup roasted chile oil
• 3 tablespoons Chinkiang vinegar
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane grater

To Serve:

• 12 ounces fresh Chinese noodles (or 6 ounces dried noodles)
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 ounces ground pork
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped preserve Sichuan vegetable (zha cai)
• 2 ounces roasted peanuts, lightly crushed in a mortar and pestle
• 1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns, finely ground in a mortar and pestle (see notes)
• 2 cloves garlic, grated on a microplane
• 2 tablespoonsfinely sliced scallion greens

Directions

1. For the Roasted Chile Vinaigrette: Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl and stir vigorously to mix.
2. To Finish: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook according to package directions. Drain. While noodles are cooking, heat oil in a wok or a small skillet over high heat until smoking. Add pork and preserved vegetable and cook, stirring and shaking constantly, using a spatula or a spoon to break up pork until cooked through, about 1 minute. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
3. Transfer noodles to serving bowl and top with pork mixture. Stir vinaigrette and spoon over and around the noodles (you may not want to use all of it). Sprinkle with roasted peanuts, Sichuan peppercorn, grated garlic, and scallion greens. Serve immediately.

Notes

You can find Sichuan peppercorns online here. Carefully remove any dark seeds or stems from Sichuan peppercorns before using. Use only the textured husks.