Marinate Boneless Pork Neck Bones for Stir Fry

AI says, “Yes, you can marinate meat, poultry, or seafood, then refrigerate it overnight or for a few days before cooking,” and “A good rule of thumb is to keep marinating time under 24 hours.“

For the above marinade I used water, salt and coconut sugar. I’m planning to stir fry some of the pork tonight, but let the rest marinate in the refrigerator overnight. I may freeze some tomorrow, and perhaps cook the remainder tomorrow.

I cut the meat into smaller portions earlier before marinating and am thinking I’ll leave it for at least an hour while I cut up the other ingredients.

Do not wash the marinade off of the pork, but you may want to pat it dry to aid in cooking.

Stupid me. I forgot the pineapple.

The orange bell pepper looks much like the orange carrots, but the veggies in this include: carrots, jalapenos, onion, and sweet “orange” Bell pepper. Also note how fresh the “Stir Fry Vegetables” from Polar look. They are consistently of good quality.

Well, it turned out well. The pork was tender and flavorful. I put in Toasted Sesame Oil and some Avocado oil, and then added the pork. I got a good brown on the pork before adding most of the other veggies (carrots, onion, jalapenos, sweet Bell pepper), and sprinkled on some powdered ginger, and garlic powder and Splenda. Towards the end I added some pineapple chunks and finally at the end, some white sesame seeds and cornstarch slurry. *I didn’t add any Spicy Chili Crisp to this, because I wanted something different. I used a whole jalapeno without the seeds, but it wasn’t hot. Makes me think I might be able to make “Jalapeno Pork” this way.

AND CAN CHICKEN BE FAR BEHIND?

I bought a package of Chicken Tenders at IGA (Eutaw Village Shopping Center) and cut the tenders into bite sized pieces and put them in three zip lock bags, labeled them and put them all in the freezer.

“IGA CKN 02/20/25” was the label I used. If something is good, I often don’t recall where I made the purchase, so IGA tells me where. Not so much with chicken, but sometimes, frozen steak and pork can be hard to distinguish. I don’t label the dates regularly, but I know I’ve come across frozen items that have a date that is at least a couple of years old.

I flattened the packages as I’ve been reminded that keeping them flat helps quicken the thawing process later. *I’ve also frozen pineapple (in chunks or slices) to be used later in stir fry cooking.

And sometimes I freeze the second helping of the “Stir Fry Veggies” that I get in a can from Walmart. I try to divvy up the assorted stir fry veggies so they are equally portioned from one fry to the next. The veggies include: sliced water chestnuts, baby corn, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, and (red sweet pepper, but not much of that). I am also reminded that sometimes, when I buy a bag of frozen shrimp at Publix, I divide them up into zip lock baggies with about 15 shrimp per bag. I then put these zipped bags back in the one original Publix bag, and take one out to thaw as needed. *And I normally thaw the shrimp in the microwave shortly before using. Recently I used shrimp (because I either didn’t have chicken or pork) in a stir fry, but normally the shrimp go into my “Kielbasa, Shrimp & Zucchini” dish (which I haven’t made in a long time, but it almost always is delicious… a little spicy and just a few ingredients).

I tried to “do the math” on the portion sizes. If the package was 1.11 lbs. total, and 16 ounces in a pound, then that should be about 17.76 ounces (almost 18), so almost 6 ounces per package. That’s a little more than I would normally like as a serving size. Actually 3.5 to 4 oz. would probably be ideal.

Now I am strongly thinking of using this chicken in a stir fry, but I could just as easily fix my Mexican or Indian Themed dishes from the exact same chicken. The veggies are the same: onion, carrots, and sweet Bell pepper. The difference is whether I use “Patak’s Hot Curry Paste,” or “Salsa Ranchera” by Herdez.

pataks_curry_paste — Patak’s Hot Curry Paste

Ooops. I just visualized another posting about using the exact same meat & veggies and making either a Chinese Stir Fry, a Mexican dish, or an India Indian meal, just based on the seasonings I choose. The Chinese version would include the “Hot Chili Crisp,” Toasted Sesame Oil & Soy Sauce, and powdered ginger, but all three would include powdered Garlic, S&P.

I haven’t had one in a while, but instead of rice, and that would be my preference with all three versions of the meal, I could microwave a sweet potato (adding some cinnamon, sweetener, butter & sour cream) and that would work with either the Mexican or Indian versions.