roast pork with ginger beer
Aug. 18th, 2007 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rushthatspeaksI adapted a recipe from Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook last night and cooked it with Sei, and it turned out beautifully, so I'm writing it down. The original had beer, not ginger beer, but Sei is allergic to alcohol strongly enough that I didn't want to risk not having it all cook away. And I think I like this version better than I would like the beer anyhow.
Ingredients:
a 3-4 lb. pork shoulder, bone in, skin on if you like fat and cut off if not
4 T olive oil
3 T butter (we used herb butter I happened to have on hand; my herb butter contains fresh thyme, rosemary, and parsley, also honey)
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
2 T flour
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
12 oz. bottle Incredibly Strong Ginger Beer (as strong as you can find)
1 cup chicken broth/stock
at least 4 T Dijon or other strong smooth yellow mustard
plenty of bread crumbs (Anthony Bourdain, while an entertaining read, is occasionally a snob and would like you to make your own unseasoned day-old bread breadcrumbs; if you do not have this sort of thing lying about, well, we used the fine-crushed ready-bought Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs we did have lying about and it turned out better than tasty)
salt
black pepper
at least one nice ripe small black plum per person
a large pot with lid
tongs, meat fork or your preferred implements for lifting heavy and hot meat without hurting yourself
sauce-stirring implements
a strainer or colander
a good heat-safe plate
baking sheet or roasting pan
a smaller saucepan
Recipe:
Defrost your meat if it's frozen. Sometimes pork skin will have dye on it to mark various cuts; it's nontoxic but cut it off if you feel strange about eating it. Or cut off the whole skin if you want less fat. Rub salt and black pepper all over the roast liberally.
Heat 2 T of oil in the large pot on high heat until tiny bubbles are coming up from the bottom but before the whole thing starts spitting and/or smoking. Drop 2 T of butter in it, let foam and subside.
Put the pork in the pot and sear to a golden brown on each side, probably about three minutes (Bourdain says five-- too long). Take it out (it will be heavy, drippy and *very* hot) and put it on a plate.
The butter/oil mix will be very brown. Pour it away, but don't worry about rinsing the pot unless you actually have bits of char in there or something. Add the other 2 T of oil, the carrots and the garlic and cook on medium-high until the carrots are soft.
Add the flour and stir to coat. Cook for about two minutes or until you are getting a nice gold in the flour; then add the vinegar and the ginger beer. Let boil and then simmer until it's reduced by half (it will suddenly, magically thicken). Add the chicken broth. Let boil and then take down to a low simmer.
Add the pork, put on the lid and cook for two hours, ignoring except to turn the pork over at the hour mark.
Wash the plate the pork was on. At some point in here, preheat your oven to 425 F.
Put pork back on plate. Strain the sauce into the smaller saucepan. You should end up with a quantity of cooked carrots and garlic; pick out any bits of char or fat or anything and save the rest. Get sauce to a low simmer and ignore while you rub mustard in a thin layer all over any bit of the pork it will stick to, and then sprinkle bread crumbs on the mustard to make a crust.
The crusted pork goes on your baking sheet/roasting dish and then into the oven. Bourdain suggests fifteen minutes, but it had turned a nice golden brown by ten. Take it out at that color before it goes dark brown. Let it rest while you finish the sauce.
Simmer the sauce down by at least half (we didn't reduce ours enough, so it was pretty thin; I will fix that next time). Taste for salt and pepper and adjust if necessary. Take off the heat and whisk in 2 T mustard briskly followed by 1 T butter.
Carve the pork. You could probably do this with a fork, and might well be able to do this with a spoon.
Slice the plums.
On a plate, everyone gets one sliced plum, one dollop of carrots and garlic, a portion of pork, and the whole thing drizzled with sauce (yes, even the plums).
We made this serve five, but it was pushing it; I'd say four. Would go well with a hearty bread, certainly with mashed potatoes, and maybe also a salad with bitter greens and a very light not-sweet dressing.
This is definitely a special-occasion meal and took much of the afternoon, but the fact that I can produce food like this is the reason I learned how to cook in the first place. Quite simply the best roast pork I have ever had, and would have been pretty damn spectacular if run across at a restaurant, let alone out of a home kitchen. Really, really worth a try if you are carnivorous at all and can lift heavy meat without problems.
Ingredients:
a 3-4 lb. pork shoulder, bone in, skin on if you like fat and cut off if not
4 T olive oil
3 T butter (we used herb butter I happened to have on hand; my herb butter contains fresh thyme, rosemary, and parsley, also honey)
2 carrots, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled but whole
2 T flour
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
12 oz. bottle Incredibly Strong Ginger Beer (as strong as you can find)
1 cup chicken broth/stock
at least 4 T Dijon or other strong smooth yellow mustard
plenty of bread crumbs (Anthony Bourdain, while an entertaining read, is occasionally a snob and would like you to make your own unseasoned day-old bread breadcrumbs; if you do not have this sort of thing lying about, well, we used the fine-crushed ready-bought Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs we did have lying about and it turned out better than tasty)
salt
black pepper
at least one nice ripe small black plum per person
a large pot with lid
tongs, meat fork or your preferred implements for lifting heavy and hot meat without hurting yourself
sauce-stirring implements
a strainer or colander
a good heat-safe plate
baking sheet or roasting pan
a smaller saucepan
Recipe:
Defrost your meat if it's frozen. Sometimes pork skin will have dye on it to mark various cuts; it's nontoxic but cut it off if you feel strange about eating it. Or cut off the whole skin if you want less fat. Rub salt and black pepper all over the roast liberally.
Heat 2 T of oil in the large pot on high heat until tiny bubbles are coming up from the bottom but before the whole thing starts spitting and/or smoking. Drop 2 T of butter in it, let foam and subside.
Put the pork in the pot and sear to a golden brown on each side, probably about three minutes (Bourdain says five-- too long). Take it out (it will be heavy, drippy and *very* hot) and put it on a plate.
The butter/oil mix will be very brown. Pour it away, but don't worry about rinsing the pot unless you actually have bits of char in there or something. Add the other 2 T of oil, the carrots and the garlic and cook on medium-high until the carrots are soft.
Add the flour and stir to coat. Cook for about two minutes or until you are getting a nice gold in the flour; then add the vinegar and the ginger beer. Let boil and then simmer until it's reduced by half (it will suddenly, magically thicken). Add the chicken broth. Let boil and then take down to a low simmer.
Add the pork, put on the lid and cook for two hours, ignoring except to turn the pork over at the hour mark.
Wash the plate the pork was on. At some point in here, preheat your oven to 425 F.
Put pork back on plate. Strain the sauce into the smaller saucepan. You should end up with a quantity of cooked carrots and garlic; pick out any bits of char or fat or anything and save the rest. Get sauce to a low simmer and ignore while you rub mustard in a thin layer all over any bit of the pork it will stick to, and then sprinkle bread crumbs on the mustard to make a crust.
The crusted pork goes on your baking sheet/roasting dish and then into the oven. Bourdain suggests fifteen minutes, but it had turned a nice golden brown by ten. Take it out at that color before it goes dark brown. Let it rest while you finish the sauce.
Simmer the sauce down by at least half (we didn't reduce ours enough, so it was pretty thin; I will fix that next time). Taste for salt and pepper and adjust if necessary. Take off the heat and whisk in 2 T mustard briskly followed by 1 T butter.
Carve the pork. You could probably do this with a fork, and might well be able to do this with a spoon.
Slice the plums.
On a plate, everyone gets one sliced plum, one dollop of carrots and garlic, a portion of pork, and the whole thing drizzled with sauce (yes, even the plums).
We made this serve five, but it was pushing it; I'd say four. Would go well with a hearty bread, certainly with mashed potatoes, and maybe also a salad with bitter greens and a very light not-sweet dressing.
This is definitely a special-occasion meal and took much of the afternoon, but the fact that I can produce food like this is the reason I learned how to cook in the first place. Quite simply the best roast pork I have ever had, and would have been pretty damn spectacular if run across at a restaurant, let alone out of a home kitchen. Really, really worth a try if you are carnivorous at all and can lift heavy meat without problems.
