Campfire crumbed pork butt with piri piri mayonnaise

By: Rohan Anderson
From: A Year of Practiculture
Serves: 4
Photographer: Rohan Anderson & Kate Berry

I made this for lunch one day and giggled when I served it up. It bore an uncanny resemblance to a campfire. The funny thing is, I’d just returned from a few days’ camping and fishing and, for some reason, I was still in autopilot mode of setting up a campfire – in this case with anything!

I’ve found that if I crumb food and fry it, my kids will eat it without hesitation. Seriously! My kids have had two versions of the one dad. The first version (draft model only) was happy for them to eat processed chicken nuggets. The second (full production model) does not approve of chicken nuggets, so version 2 dad sometimes makes food look like food from version 1 dad. The kids appear to be dumbfounded as they crunch through the fried-nugget-like meal. I guess they’re wondering if it’s some sort of trick. But it’s not. We butchered our pig, I made the breadcrumbs from my sourdough, the mayonnaise with eggs and garlic from my backyard, and the lemon is from Mum’s tree. So no trips to see the Kentucky chicken man with the beard. Instead they eat tucker from the Victorian bearded man with pork butt and a sneaky plan to get his kids to eat real honest food.

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient

The piri piri mayonnaise

Quantity	Ingredient
3	egg yolks
250ml	sunflower oil
1	lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon	piri piri spice blend
2 teaspoons	cayenne pepper, (optional)
5	garlic cloves, crushed
	salt, to taste
	pepper, to taste

The pork schnitzels

Quantity	Ingredient
1-2kg	pork butt
	plain flour, for dusting
4-5	eggs, lightly beaten
	Toasted sourdough breadcrumbs, for coating
	oil, for shallow-frying
3-4	jalapeno chillies, thinly sliced
2	lemons, halved, to serve
	salt, to serve
	pepper, to serve

Method

To make the piri piri mayonnaise, whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl while slowly adding the oil. Take your time and whisk well. A mayonnaise-like substance will form. That’s because it’s mayonnaise. Continue whisking until you’ve added all the oil. Mix in the lemon juice, piri piri blend, cayenne, if using, and garlic. Mix well and season to taste. You’ve just made a kick-arse mayonnaise!
To prepare the schnitzels, cut thin slabs of meat off the pork butt. Using a meat tenderiser or a rolling pin, give each slab a tap to tenderise it.
Line up three bowls on the bench: one with the flour, one with the beaten egg and one with the breadcrumbs. Dip each schnitzel in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs, and set aside on a tray.
Heat some oil in a frying pan deep enough to cook one side of the pork at a time. Pop in a small test piece as a temperature gauge. When it starts to snap and crackle, you can start cooking the schnitzels. Cook each schnitzel until golden brown, laying it on paper towel to drain off any excess oil while you cook the next schnitzel. Slice each schnitzel into chip-sized (fry‑sized) slices.
Make a little campfire on each plate, with the mayonnaise as the flames and the chilli on top. Serve with a lemon half, and salt and pepper for people to help themselves.