Nothing about that title sounds bad, does it? After the turkey nonsense, I need a win, and a win I get with this one. This is all the things I like: rich, porky, tomato-y, drunk, etc. I love braises because they’re so hard to mess up. They can take all day, providing a handy excuse to couch it with Netflix and still feel like you’re accomplishing something.
Pork butt is on sale. I already made the obvious Sir-Mix-A-Lot joke, so I’ll skip it for now. And they’re selling half-butts (must ignore potential hilarity), so I don’t have to cook for an army. Well, it’s still eight pounds of pork for two people, but we will manage, I promise. (Will also not mention that this pork is not “enhanced”, and will lay off that topic for today, besides this little story. Sam’s Club – usually an excellent source for quality meats, has started selling only plumped and injected chicken. I noticed this back in August, and also that they no longer sell bone-in chicken breasts – only BSCBs. I sent an e-mail expressing my dismay and hoping they would go back to the good healthier products they used to sell. They replied in December – yes, five months later I get an e-mail back suggesting I try their organic, super-expensive, antibiotic-free chicken. I let ‘em have it.)
Moving on. Serious Eats had a feature on hearty winter stews, which sound wonderful with an approaching snowpocalypse on the way. I had a cooking fail I chose not to document with a chicken stew that turned out to be more soupy and bland than anything – this promises to be hot, hearty, and life-giving. All things I like. (Other recent fails: folding queen-sized fitted flannel sheet by myself, liquid eyeliner, and locating Kraft Olde English Cheese Spread at Kroger.) First I contact my Greek Lady friend and inquire about the authenticity of the recipe. She finds a similar beefy one in a Greek cookbook, and since I don’t really give two hoots about authenticity, let’s go. Thanks, Greek Lady!
So we have (adapted only lightly from Jennifer Olvera’s recipe on Serious Eats:
1 ½ pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into 1-inch chunks (edit: let’s say three. I have a lot of meat.)
Salt
Black pepper
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (edit: 3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided (edit: yeah, right.)
1 medium onion, diced (about 1 ½ cups)
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon)
1 cup red wine (edit: 2 cups.)
1 cup tomato juice (edit: 2 cups)
½ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
½ teaspoon dried oregano (edit: 1 tablespoon)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (I’m dubious, but try it.)
2 stupid bay leaves
2 cups cooked rice or orzo
I do a little math – after cutting as much meat off the bone as I can without tragically ruining my good knives, I’m left with about four additional pounds of pork. What to do? It gets braised separately with a little water, salt, and pepper for several hours until it’s falling apart. The meat will go into the following things over the next few days: pasta sauce, barbecue sandwiches, my mouth.
The meat cubes get tossed in the Dijon mustard, and browned in oil in a Dutch oven. Sinuses miraculously cleared, I sauté the onions in a little more oil, adding the garlic for the last minute. SE recommends four minutes for the garlic, but we know how I feel about that.
Deglaze the pot with one cup of red wine. Then add more wine, because recipes are for chumps. Let it simmer and reduce for about ten minutes and add everything back in – all the meat, juices, stupid bay leaves, and spices. It looks gross.
Add the tomato juice, then add more because this is actually quite a lot of meat and I don’t think two cups of liquid is quite enough. Once the orzo goes in it will soak up the liquid and leave more of a mush than a stew.
Return to a boil then put in a low oven (275) for four to five hours. Remove stupid bay leaves. This looks better!
As it’s pretty much a meat-and-starch recipe, I add some zucchini to convince myself it’s somehow healthy. It will not affect the flavor, and will add some color.
This smells seriously good. Somehow the oregano is really coming through in this. Maybe because I used four times the amount called for? Perhaps. The Dijon mustard gives it just a little bit of heat, surprisingly, and the red wine adds depth without being too wine-y. I love this recipe. It’s better than Cats and I will make it again and again. Served over orzo pasta (or rice), it’s a meal in a bowl. Add hot crusty bread, which is good advice for all of life’s problems.
(Editor’s Note: I am majorly irritated with Tumblr for changing the method of inserting photographs into blog posts. It’s gotten ten times harder and more confusing. I am pretty good at computer stuff, but after wrestling for an hour with the damn Dashboard site, none of my turkey pictures made it into Part Two, which I will attempt to remedy. Please check back in on that post in a day or two so you can see again what a terrible photographer I am.)
illdothedisheslater 