"Perhaps the most impressive of all the cookbook blogs are the three devoted to the 2004 edition of Gourmet magazine's "The Gourmet Cookbook" -- all 5¼ pounds and 1,300-odd recipes of it. Befitting this culinary Everest, all three writers are overachievers in their professional lives."

--Lee Gomes, The Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2008
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--Ruth Reichl, Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet Magazine, June 8 2008, comment on "Chocolate Velvet Ice Cream".

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Cider-Braised Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onions


I'm a sucker for recipes that start with this sentence: "Make this dish and forget about it..." Pre-Christmas, who doesn't want something you can slide into the oven with minimal effort and pull out hours later? Cider-Braised Pork Shoulder with Caramelized Onions, you're the one for me. I made this meal at the same time that I was making about fifty kinds of candy, all of which, dear reader, I will tell you about in due time.

But more about the pork shoulder--this recipe calls for a 3- to 4- pound bone-in fresh pork shoulder half. I could only find a whole, and was too rushed to ask the butcher to cut it for me--so here I am trying to brown the whole picnic shoulder in a pot slightly too small:



After browning the pork you set it aside and add about 5-6 sliced onions to the pot, sauteeing until they're caramelized:



Then stir in 3/4 cup cider, put the pork back in, cover, and slide the whole thing into a low oven for about 3 hours.

Ready for dinner?




We loved it. Our cat did too.




If I were making it again, though, I'd trim off the skin and most of the fat. There's a LOT of fat on pork shoulder, and it all went into those caramelized onions. Notice that didn't stop me from eating it, but I felt appropriately guilty.

6 comments:

GilaB said...

Do you think this would work with some non-pig cut of meat? We keep kosher, but it sounds very tasty.

Melissa Bach Palladino said...

Oh sure--I think it would work with any beef cut that takes to braising, like brisket.

Kelly Loy Gilbert said...

Looks delicious! Looking at the finished product, I would never have guessed it was as easy as it sounds. I may have to make this.

Do you think it would work with chicken? Would you sub a different liquid?

Melissa Bach Palladino said...

It would absolutely work with chicken--I would try boneless skinless thigh meat. And cider would be fine! :-)

Anonymous said...

I just made this recipe. I didn't end up with much liquid after it was done. I hardly had anything to boil down as instructed. Did I do something wrong?

Melissa Bach Palladino said...

Assuming you covered the pot while it was cooking, you might have had the heat on a little high, which would have made the liquid escape in the form of steam. How was it? Did you like it?