3eme soiree du porc

this recipe is for the weekend, as it takes up a large chunk of your day, but it has a pretty high upside. this is my take on the traditional mexican stew, posole - essentially a pork and hominy stew. i had pork neck bones in the freezer, as well as some pork ribs, and it all went in. i specifically chose cuts of meat with bones, for better flavor, and it definitely paid off - this is a hearty meal, with delicious porky flavor and a bit of sweetness from the corn. in the matchup between pork neck bones and oxtails, the former are a clear winner. for a really cheap cut of meat (granted, most of it is bones), you can't get more tender meat, with a slight slick of unctuous texture from the neck bones.

i also threw in a bunch of cabbage that was leftover from the pulled pork - i chopped it, sauteed it in bacon fat and pulsed it in the food processor to get it fine enough to go into the posole. it adds body and is healthy, too, with lots of vitamin k and c, and a good amount of dietary fiber. i left the cabbage out of the recipe, but in case you want to add it, i put in about two cups of food processed cabbage at first, then ended up adding the rest in after we'd had maybe a quarter of the stew for dinner, for a total of 1.5 small heads of cabbage.

we had this with cornbread, braised kale (i was distracted, so the kale was pretty bland, but good with the posole), and "guacamole" (insofar as mashed avocados with lime juice can be considered guacamole).

posole

2-3T vegetable oil

3-4 lbs pork neck bones

2 lbs pork ribs (country style, bone-in)

2T olive oil or rendered pork fat

1/2 head of garlic, minced

4 large onions, diced

1 package fresh oregano, chopped

3-4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

2 dried pasilla peppers

1 carton of chicken broth

1 carton of beef broth

cabbage (optional)

32 oz canned hominy

zest of 3 limes

1. in a large, not non-stick pot, heat the oil on medium-high heat. sear the pork neck bones on each side, in batches, taking care not to crowd the pan. set aside on a plate to rest.

2. add the olive oil or pork fat to the pot, let it heat over medium, and then add the garlic, onions, and oregano. stir together and let cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and the garlic is slightly golden, about 10-15 minutes. scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to make sure the browned bits don't burn.

3. while the onion mixture is cooking, chop the pasilla peppers and chipotle peppers, and stir in 1/3c of chicken broth. microwave on medium for 2 minutes, then put through a food processor or blender. add this mixture to the onions and let cook a few minutes.

4. add the neck bones back into the onion mixture, and add enough broth to cover the meat. let simmer on medium (turn down the heat if it boils vigorously) for at least an hour, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing burns.

5. remove the pork neck bones and put on a plate in one layer to cool, and put the pork ribs into the broth-onion pot to simmer on medium to medium-low. when the pork neck bones have cooled enough to touch (about 15 minutes), shred the meat off the bones. put the shredded neck meat into the pot and discard the bones.

6. let the mixture in the pot simmer for an hour (45 minutes if you're in a hurry) and remove the ribs. let cool 15 minutes, or until cool enough to touch, and shred the meat off the bones. return shredded meat to the pot and discard the bones.

7. drain the liquid from the hominy and stir it and the lime zest into the pot. let simmer for at least an hour, until reduced and stewy in consistency.

8. serve immediately with cornbread or rice.

[serves 10-12]

bacon-scallion cornbread

1c cornmeal

1 1/4c flour

1/4c sugar

2t baking powder

1t baking soda

4 slices bacon

1 pkg scallions or 3 large onions

2T chives (optional), chopped

1c buttermilk, or a mixture of yogurt, cream, or milk

3 eggs

6T butter, melted and cooled to room temp

salt and pepper to taste

1. preheat oven to 350F and butter a 9" square pyrex pan. in a medium bowl, stir together cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda.

2. cook the bacon over medium heat until crispy, then remove and drain on paper towels. pour off all of the fat except for 1T; heat on medium and add the scallions or onions. cook the scallions until just wilted, about 10 minutes, or if using the onions, cook until caramelized, about an hour. remove from heat and let cool to room temp.

3. meanwhile, whisk together the eggs and buttermilk. add the butter and whisk together. chop the bacon into bits and stir bacon and scallions into the flour mixture. stir in the chives, if using.

4. add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir just until the mixture is completely combined. scrape into the pan and bake 25-40 minutes, until golden brown on top and a tester comes out with a few crumbs adhering. let cool slightly, then serve.

[serves 6-8]

take this easy path to pork heaven

i have fond memories of the pig 'n' pepper fair in westford, ma, from my childhood. my best friend's mother ran the pepper tent, where people entered pepper products to be judged, and we helped out and ran around the fair. one of the staples of running around was getting a pulled pork sandwich from redbones for lunch: a soft bun containing a small mountain of pork, liberally doused with bbq sauce. a few months ago, while at star market, i saw a good-looking pork shoulder and snapped it up. it languished in our freezer until i finally thawed it and popped it in the oven.

it's nice to know that slow-cooker recipes also work without the slow cooker. really, it's a logical conclusion, but i guess that it's hard to leave the oven on overnight. i would be on board with a pressure cooker - i find that pretty intriguing - but slow cooker, not so much. i try not to use more exotic appliances unless i really need to, since i don't have a kitchen aid, pressure cooker, slow cooker - any of the really big-ticket items. i do, however, have pretty much everything else, and i make good use of my roommates' kitchen appliances.

anyway, this pork is great, and the easiest thing i've made in a while. you just pop a pork shoulder in the oven and cook it at low heat until it's done. i did actually let the oven cook it overnight, and it was fine, safety-wise - after all, 235F is not a particularly high temperature. the meat near the bone and under the fat cap is the most flavorful and tender, while the meat closer to the baking pan's surface adds a bit of chew. shredded together...mmmm.

i love condiments, and i served this to my friends with a few different salads, including a bit of watercress to add a bit of balance to the richness of the pork. i had some potatoes on hand, so i made a mustardy potato salad; the coleslaw was also mustardy and tangy, since i swapped out some of the mayo for yogurt. serve this with whichever condiments you like, and you and your guests will be very happy.

note: the yield of this recipe depends on how hungry you are, and how much people like condiments. i had a pork shoulder that was about 8 lbs. the pork stretches further if you balance it with condiments (and just don't eat ridiculous amounts of meat in the bun). the size of the bun also limits how much pork people tend to put on the bun. anyway, i had 10 people over and a few people went back for seconds, just so you get an idea of how many this will feed.

pulled pork

1 7-10lb pork shoulder

salt and pepper

buns

1c bbq sauce

whole wheat hamburger buns

condiments: mustard, coleslaw, bbq sauce, watercress, carrot slaw, potato salad

1. preheat the oven to 235F. rinse the pork shoulder and pat dry with paper towels, and season with salt and pepper.

2. place the pork in a roasting pan (or on a foil-lined baking sheet) and roast for 8-12 hours, overnight. your pork is done when when it's starting to fall apart and the fat cap is browned.

3. remove the pork from the oven and cool until it's not too hot to touch. shred the pork with forks or your hands, discarding bits of fat and gristle. stir in about a cup of bbq sauce (see previous post), to keep the meat moist. cover with foil until ready to serve. (refrigerate if not serving that day; reheat in the oven.)

4. serve on toasted buns, with condiments.

[serves 8-12]

liquid smoke v. EU

i made this bbq sauce to go with the pulled pork i was making last week, and along with the pork, it's quite a winner. it's mild in your mouth with a bit of a fiery kick at the end, and pairs well with pulled pork and other things you might want to barbecue (chicken wings, etc). it mellows as you let it stand, so try to make this a day before using it.

i've adapted the recipe a little bit, as the original recipe called for liquid smoke. according to wikipedia, liquid smoke is "a substance produced from smoke passed through water," and apparently, carcinogenic compounds such as tar and ash are removed in processing the liquid. however, i just can't get on board with semi-artificial ingredients like this - who knows what went into this stuff, anyway? also, the EU version of the FDA, which has higher standards, is currently investigating liquid smoke, so that's good enough for me - no liquid smoke. instead, i swapped in smoked salt that i got from the whole foods bulk section in tribeca. you'll get a bit of smoky flavor from the chipotle peppers, too; i found that this sauce was plenty smoky enough.

the original recipe also called for just combining the ingredients in a pot, but i sauteed the aromatics (onion, garlic, allspice) before adding everything else, for that added dimension of flavor. it's likely that i can't taste the difference, as my palate isn't sensitive enough, but i like any adaptations that have the potential to add more flavor.

perhaps i should have paid more attention to molasses, which is also a processed food, but i didn't. i did use the "robust" flavor of molasses from the supermarket, which is what we had lying around. don't use blackstrap, but if you have something that has slightly more bite than typical molasses, that's probably perfect for this sauce.

i am not particularly well-versed with southern, mexican, or south american cuisine, so i don't know if canned chipotles in adobo sauce count as heresy. sorry if they do, but they're important to this sauce. i even found them in the international foods aisle of star market - a welcome surprise, since i was shopping at 11:30pm the night before people were coming for dinner.

finally, with respect to ingredients, i used fire-roasted tomatoes. if it were the season, i would have used real tomatoes, but as they're still out of season, i substituted muir glen tomatoes. the tomatoes even have little black flecks in them, which actually creeps me out a little bit - somehow it looks like black confetti added in at the last moment, rather than being the product of fire-roasting. however, i do trust muir glen, so it is what it is.

bbq sauce

2 28-oz cans crushed tomatoes (2 28-oz cans fire-roasted muir glen)

9-12 ounces molasses ("robust")

1/2c orange juice

2T worcestershire sauce

4 chipotle chiles in adobo sauce, chopped (or more if you want a hotter sauce)

2 medium onions, diced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2t allspice

1T olive oil

1/2t smoked salt, plus more to taste

pepper

additional equipment

immersion blender (a regular blender is fine too)

1. in a large saucepan, heat the olive oil on medium heat. when the oil is hot, add the onions, garlic, and allspice, stirring to combine evenly. cook 10 minutes, until the onions are glossy and the garlic is slightly browned, then add the tomatoes, molasses, onion, sherry, worcestershire sauce, chipotles, and 1/2t smoked salt. bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.

2. reduce heat to low and cook, uncovered, for 30 minutes - stir occasionally to make sure nothing's sticking to the bottom of the pan. take the pot off the heat and use your immersion blender to blend the mixture into a homogenous sauce. simmer, stirring frequently, for at least 45 minutes longer (i simmered mine for about 4 hours, all told). see step 3 before adding additional salt and pepper.

3. if you are roasting a pork shoulder while making this sauce, add any rendered pork cracklings (the shiny, crispy, dark brown stuff stuck to the bottom of the roasting pan) to the pan. if you, like i had when i made this sauce, made pork belly recently, add the pork jelly (the brown liquid that renders from the belly, minus the fat) to the sauce as well. the cracklings and jelly are salty and will add body and a slightly meatiness to your sauce. if you are using cracklings, make sure you don't add additional salt beyond the smoked salt until after you add the cracklings.

4. when the sauce is reduced to the amount you want (in the neighborhood of 2 quarts), take it off the heat and let it cool. transfer to an airtight container and store for up to a month. this sauce also freezes well.

[makes 1.5 to 2 quarts of sauce]