Getting there slowly: braised pork shoulder (for Mike and Brad)

Annalena can get from one point to another, albeit slowly. She did that last week in her run, and sometimes, that's how it works with her cooking. This is something that I finally got to, after thinking about it for well over a year. The inspiration, even a year later, is her friends Mike and Brad, and this is dedicated to them.

You'll hear the expression "food porn," used more and more frequently these days, as people send around pictures of their work in the kitchen, to friends who will appreciate it. Some time ago, Brad sent me a picture of a pork shoulder, that Mike had cooked in their apartment that weekend. Sure looked good. I make a pork shoulder cooked in milk, Italian style, but nothing the way Mike cooked his.

Coincidentally, I was leafing through one of my cookbooks, and found a recipe for a braised pork shoulder, from Chez Panisse. I read through it. It looked WAY too easy. It couldn't POSSIBLY be that easy.

It is. It really is. And it's a spectacular dish to make for this holiday season. Nice and rich. Easy. Did I say easy? REALLY easy. I made mine with wild boar shoulder, but you should just choose pork if that's what you have, boar if you have that. It can be bone in, or bone out. Mine was bone out.

The roast itself, without the bone, should be about 4 pounds of meat. With the bone, closer to 5.5 or even more. Whichever one you use, the night before, dry off the roast, and then season it. Season it well, with whatever you like on pork. The instructions that I had called for salt, chopped sage, and red pepper. All good. At the last minute , I saw fennel seeds.

Fennel and pork. Oh, yes. Absolutely. So, season the meat liberally and leave it in the fridge, uncovered , overnight.

Next day, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Take the meat out of the fridge, and let it come to room temperature.

Now, the hard part. Put it in a cold oven proof pan, like a Le Creuset pot, and cover it. Put that in the oven, and go away, and read a book, or the papers, or something like that. And go away for a LONG time - like 2 hours, minimum.

Your house is going to begin to smell wonderful as the spices cook in the fat, which will render out of the meat. After two hours, turn the roast in the pan, and let it cook for at least another half hour. That's probably all you'll need for a boneless roast, you'll probably need more time for one on the bone.

You'll watch the meat carmelize and start to fall apart. Pork will take less time, boar more time. Test it with a fork and see: is it so tender that you can cut it with a fork, or close to? You're there. You'll have a nice, brown, tender mass of meat. Pull it out of the pan, and let the fat drip away. Now, slice it however you like.

I'm going to use ours to make a "tortilla al pastor, " with some shredded cabbage and a sauce of some kind, but there's enough meat here, to make several different meals.

Thanks to Mike and Brad for letting me know about the joys of pork shoulder. If you eat pork, this is a perfect dish for the holidays. Nice and rich, tasty, and SO easy.

If you make this, tell me what you do with the meat. And maybe substitute the meat itself. Lamb shoulder anyone?