Pan-Roast Pork Leg Steak with Kimchi Slaw and Honey Soy Dressing

This pan-roast pork leg steak with Kimchi Asian slaw and raw Cornish honey soy dressing is one of those dishes that looks considered and tastes extraordinary for a weeknight.

It takes twenty-five minutes, uses one pan, and brings together a deeply golden Cornish pork steak, a punchy live Kimchi slaw dressed with sesame and ginger, and a raw honey soy dressing that bridges the sweet-savoury gap with genuine elegance. The pork comes from St Piran's Pork at St Erme, Truro — a fourth-generation family farm where provenance is as close to absolute as it gets. The kimchi is Cultura Live Food— small-batch, raw, unpasteurised, fermented in West Cornwall.

 

Why pork leg steak is the right cut here

Pork leg steak is one of the most underused cuts on the counter. It has more fat marbling than loin, which means more flavour and better response to high heat. It's also significantly cheaper — a point worth making when you're spending on quality Cornish pork. The technique is simple: dry the surface, season generously, get the pan screaming hot, and don't move the steak until it releases naturally. Four minutes. Flip. Two to three minutes. Rest five minutes. The crust that forms is everything.

 

The kimchi slaw

The slaw is built around Cultura Kimchi — Chinese leaf, mooli, carrot, spring onion, ginger, garlic and red pepper, slow-fermented with Cornish sea salt. Fold 150g through shredded white cabbage and grated carrot, dress with sesame oil and rice wine vinegar, then hit with the honey soy dressing. The kimchi brings spice, fermented depth and live tang that a plain vinaigrette cannot replicate. Leave it to sit while the pork cooks — even five minutes improves it.

 

Add the Kimchi at room temperature. The live lactobacillus cultures are still active — keep them that way by not cooking the slaw or refrigerating it right before serving. The flavour is better and the benefit reaches your gut intact.

 

The honey soy dressing

Two tablespoons of soy sauce, one tablespoon of raw Cornish honey, a teaspoon of sesame oil, a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar and a teaspoon of fresh grated ginger. Whisk together. Taste. It should be punchy, sweet and sharp in that order. The raw honey matters here — it's unheated and unfiltered, so it keeps the floral depth that processed honey loses. Cornish wildflower honey has a specific character from the heather, clover and gorse the bees are foraging. It softens the soy's salinity and carries the ginger.

 

The full recipe

Ingredients — serves 2

●        2 pork leg steaks (approx. 200g each) — St Piran's Pork

●        150g Cultura Live Food Kimchi, roughly chopped

●        ¼ small white cabbage, very finely shredded

●        2 medium carrots, julienned or grated

●        2 spring onions, sliced (reserve some for the topping)

●        ½ red pepper, sliced (reserve some for the topping)

●        Mixed seeds — sesame, pumpkin or sunflower

●        2 tbsp soy sauce · 1 tbsp raw Cornish honey · 1 tsp sesame oil · 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar · 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated

●        Neutral oil · sea salt · black pepper

 

Method

1. Whisk together soy, honey, sesame oil, vinegar and ginger. Taste and adjust. Set aside.
2. Toss cabbage and carrot with sesame oil, rice wine vinegar and a pinch of salt. Fold through Cultura Kimchi, most of the spring onions and most of the red pepper. Dress with two thirds of the honey soy dressing. Leave to sit.
3. Pat pork steaks dry with kitchen paper. Season generously on both sides.
4. Heat a heavy-based pan over high heat until smoking. Add a splash of neutral oil. Lay in the steaks — don't move them. 3–4 minutes first side. Flip. 2–3 minutes. Rest 5 minutes.
5. Plate the slaw. Slice pork against the grain and lay over the top. Drizzle remaining dressing. Scatter spring onions, red pepper and seeds. Serve immediately.

gut health angle

Cultura Kimchi is raw and unpasteurised — the live lactobacillus cultures that developed during fermentation are still active when it reaches your kitchen. Added to the slaw at room temperature (not cooked, not refrigerator-cold), they survive to the plate and reach your digestive system intact. The white cabbage in the slaw base is a good prebiotic food — its soluble fibre feeds beneficial bacteria already in the gut. This is a weeknight dish that happens to do something useful.

 

Tips and variations

●        No rice wine vinegar: substitute apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.

●        No fresh ginger: ½ tsp ground ginger works at a pinch.

●        More substantial: serve over steamed jasmine rice or rice noodles.

●        Make it ahead: the slaw improves up to an hour ahead — dress it, cover, leave at room temperature. Cook the pork fresh.

●        Vegetarian: replace the pork with firm tofu — press dry, slice thick, cook the same way.