Sweet-and-Sour Pork (Southern Living 1981)

 

I think 1981 must have been  a big year for Sweet-and-Sour Pork. There has been a Sweet-and-Sour Pork recipe in pretty much every month. I made this one in February. It was a hit, so when Chery suggested that I try this one again in May, I thought it would be a no brainer winner. 

WRONG!

J-Boy ate this like he was being poisoned. Junior and The Hubs loved it. I thought...meh. I liked the other one better. Although I did like the addition of pineapple in this one, the sauce of the other one was more sweet and sour to me. This one was a bit more salty. The Hubs liked this one better. Junior didn't specify, but ate it well. 

I did not change much for this recipe. I browned the meat in olive oil instead of vegetable oil. I skipped the onion and went a bit less than 1/4 cup on the sugar. The rest was according to directions!

Here's the sauce getting in the mix. Notice the swirly swirls of soy sauce. The sauce smelled pretty much like soy sauce, although it tasted much better. The pineapple juice added a nice depth of flavor and sweetness.

The sauce all mixed up was a lovely brown color.

I chopped up one bell pepper. I love they way they smell. The boys love all the seediness of the inside. I'm not sure why, but every single time I cut one up, I have an audience of two and they comment on the seeds. Maybe the seeds are a surprise to them?

The meat bubbling up nicely. I must have taken this picture before I added the water or after I took some out. I ended up pouring some of the water out before adding the sauce. I didn't want a repeat of the takes a million years to thicken episode of the prior sweet-and-sour pork. 

Right before serving it looked great! Smelled great too. The peppers were still very crisp (which The Hubs LOVES...crisp veggies...not necessarily just crisp peppers.)

 

In my bowl! 

 Yum-o!

~Audry