I just wanted to take a second to let you all know, loyal readers, that I hope you are making use of this very blog to steal our recipes and pass them off as your own as your friends and family heap upon you the praise you so richly deserve for feeding and nurturing them. It's not that I don't want credit. Typically, I want credit for everything. I just think that when it comes to food, that's not the point. With food, I think the point is to share selflessly.
I am just as subject to gluttony as anybody else, but I just think the idea of, say, baking a pie for yourself - while tempting - is not as much fun as baking a pie for a family meal or a friend's cookout. Also, I think part of the fun of recipes are the variations and deviations that enrich the original ingredients as recipes pass from hand to hand. I believe strongly that, unless you're baking (that's all science, dontcha know), you should always mess with a recipe and make it your own.
That said, I'd like to share with you a recipe I've been messing with a lot lately. My dear friend Courtney found it on a delightful blog called Sass and Veracity (http://www.sassandveracity.typepad.com/) and passed it on to me as I was trying to prepare a party menu. Courtney & I do some illegal, underground catering so we're always on the browse. Anyhoo, after following the recipe the first time I prepared this delicious dish, I've been altering it to suit, well, me, ever since. As you'll see, I'm still cravin' the braisin' (who doesn't?), but this one is just so good, I think you should try it too. From it's original form on Sass and Veracity (which she adapted from a cookbook), I've dressed it down a bit, made it a little less elegant and a little more like a stew. It's an evolution. And you know what they say...evolve or die! OK, so no one really says that but I think it's probably true. Anyway, thanks to Sass & Veracity.
Let us know when you make delicious adaptations to the recipes we post. If you have good ideas, we'd love to plagarise them.
Pork Shoulder braised in Guinness Stout and Cherries
Ingredients:
4 cups (2 16 oz. cans) Guinness
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 4-5 lb. pork shoulder
kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper
3 T. Olive Oil
3 large onions, halved and sliced
5 - 6 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
3 T. tomato paste
5 whole allspice, crushed
2 or 3 bay leaves
1/3 cup molasses
1-2 cups water
8 small new (red) potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
about 2 dozen baby carrots (or more if you like carrots)
1 large slice toasted crusty bread per person you're serving
Instructions:
Several hours - or the night before - you intend to begin cooking the pork, bring the Guinness, cherries and vinegar to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Pour into a bowl and cover tightly and allow to sit for a few hours or overnight. This is to reconstitute the cherries, I think. I was toying with not doing it from the original recipe, but I think it also allows the vinegar to mellow. I'm gonna skip this "let it sit" step someday...I'll let you know how it goes.
Preheat the oven to 300. Season the pork shoulder generously with salt and pepper. In a large dutch oven (awww yeah...Le Creuset) or big, oven-safe pot, heat the Olive Oil. Brown the pork shoulder on all sides. This should take a total of about 15 minutes. The pork shoulder is not a piece of paper...it has many sides. Don't slack. Remove pork from pot and allow it to rest on a platter.
Drain all but about 3 T. of the dripings and oil from dutch oven. Return to heat and add onions, stirring regularly and sauteeing, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sautee while stirring for about 5 more minutes. Add tomato paste and combine well, cooking for about a minute.
Add the Guinness & cherries, bay leaves, allspice, molasses and stir to combine. Return pork shoulder to the pot. If the liquid does not mostly cover the pork, add water as necessary until the roast is more or less submerged yet is not FULLY under water. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in the oven. Cook for 1 hour. Remove from oven, turn the pork shoulder and return to the oven, cooking from 1 hour. Remove from oven, add the potatoes and carrots. Return to oven and cook for an additional hour.
After 3 total hours cook time, remove from oven. Remove pork from dutch oven and set aside. It will likely be falling apart. That's the idea. Place dutch oven on the stove over medium-high heat and bring the liquid to a hard simmer, reducing for about 5 - 7 minutes.
Shred or slice pork and serve atop toasted bread, topped with carrots, potatoes, onion, cherries and a generous ladle of reduced sauce. Enjoy. Serves a lot of people so invite friends over!
NOTE: This is a more rustic interpretation of the recipe as I first read it which called for no carrot or potatoes IN the cooking liquid, but rather for the pork, cherries & liquid to be served atop mashed sweet potatoes. I just really love a one-pot meal. Try it either way. Let us know what you think.
I am just as subject to gluttony as anybody else, but I just think the idea of, say, baking a pie for yourself - while tempting - is not as much fun as baking a pie for a family meal or a friend's cookout. Also, I think part of the fun of recipes are the variations and deviations that enrich the original ingredients as recipes pass from hand to hand. I believe strongly that, unless you're baking (that's all science, dontcha know), you should always mess with a recipe and make it your own.
That said, I'd like to share with you a recipe I've been messing with a lot lately. My dear friend Courtney found it on a delightful blog called Sass and Veracity (http://www.sassandveracity.typepad.com/) and passed it on to me as I was trying to prepare a party menu. Courtney & I do some illegal, underground catering so we're always on the browse. Anyhoo, after following the recipe the first time I prepared this delicious dish, I've been altering it to suit, well, me, ever since. As you'll see, I'm still cravin' the braisin' (who doesn't?), but this one is just so good, I think you should try it too. From it's original form on Sass and Veracity (which she adapted from a cookbook), I've dressed it down a bit, made it a little less elegant and a little more like a stew. It's an evolution. And you know what they say...evolve or die! OK, so no one really says that but I think it's probably true. Anyway, thanks to Sass & Veracity.
Let us know when you make delicious adaptations to the recipes we post. If you have good ideas, we'd love to plagarise them.
Pork Shoulder braised in Guinness Stout and Cherries
Ingredients:
4 cups (2 16 oz. cans) Guinness
1 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1 4-5 lb. pork shoulder
kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper
3 T. Olive Oil
3 large onions, halved and sliced
5 - 6 cloves garlic, crushed and minced
3 T. tomato paste
5 whole allspice, crushed
2 or 3 bay leaves
1/3 cup molasses
1-2 cups water
8 small new (red) potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
about 2 dozen baby carrots (or more if you like carrots)
1 large slice toasted crusty bread per person you're serving
Instructions:
Several hours - or the night before - you intend to begin cooking the pork, bring the Guinness, cherries and vinegar to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Pour into a bowl and cover tightly and allow to sit for a few hours or overnight. This is to reconstitute the cherries, I think. I was toying with not doing it from the original recipe, but I think it also allows the vinegar to mellow. I'm gonna skip this "let it sit" step someday...I'll let you know how it goes.
Preheat the oven to 300. Season the pork shoulder generously with salt and pepper. In a large dutch oven (awww yeah...Le Creuset) or big, oven-safe pot, heat the Olive Oil. Brown the pork shoulder on all sides. This should take a total of about 15 minutes. The pork shoulder is not a piece of paper...it has many sides. Don't slack. Remove pork from pot and allow it to rest on a platter.
Drain all but about 3 T. of the dripings and oil from dutch oven. Return to heat and add onions, stirring regularly and sauteeing, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sautee while stirring for about 5 more minutes. Add tomato paste and combine well, cooking for about a minute.
Add the Guinness & cherries, bay leaves, allspice, molasses and stir to combine. Return pork shoulder to the pot. If the liquid does not mostly cover the pork, add water as necessary until the roast is more or less submerged yet is not FULLY under water. Bring to a simmer, cover and place in the oven. Cook for 1 hour. Remove from oven, turn the pork shoulder and return to the oven, cooking from 1 hour. Remove from oven, add the potatoes and carrots. Return to oven and cook for an additional hour.
After 3 total hours cook time, remove from oven. Remove pork from dutch oven and set aside. It will likely be falling apart. That's the idea. Place dutch oven on the stove over medium-high heat and bring the liquid to a hard simmer, reducing for about 5 - 7 minutes.
Shred or slice pork and serve atop toasted bread, topped with carrots, potatoes, onion, cherries and a generous ladle of reduced sauce. Enjoy. Serves a lot of people so invite friends over!
NOTE: This is a more rustic interpretation of the recipe as I first read it which called for no carrot or potatoes IN the cooking liquid, but rather for the pork, cherries & liquid to be served atop mashed sweet potatoes. I just really love a one-pot meal. Try it either way. Let us know what you think.
2 comments:
Looks awesome :)
The web is an interesting place, isn't it? Looking for something completely unrelated, I ran across this today. Years have passed and I've moved Sass & Veracity but do remember how good this Daniel Boulud recipe is from his book, Braise. Looks like you've had a great time with it!
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