by Carrie L. » Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:02 am
So, at the grocery store a few days ago, I saw a beautiful bone-in pork shoulder on sale. I figured with the holiday weekend approaching, I would make the oven Kahlua Pig we like so much. Then I ran across an intriguing method in Cook's Illustrated (May/June 2008, which I finally got around to reading). It called for braising the pork (cut into chunks) until tender, then shredding it slightly, reducing the braising liquid to a syrup, tossing the syrup with the shreds and broiling slightly until the edges were crispy. This sounded great to me, especially since it called on some of the flavors of Cuba that I miss so much from my years in Florida. (Orange, lime, onion.)
Since I was lazy yesterday morning, I actually cooked the shoulder in one piece vs. cutting it into chunks. I knew it would take longer but that didn't matter to me. I turned it several times throughout the process so it would be moist and flavorful all over. The final step worked the same as the recipe dictated, since I shredded/chopped it into pieces of about 2 square inches after it was finished braising.
The result was delicious. I never would have thought of tossing the finished pork with the reduced braising liquid. The onion and fruit juices added a tiny bit of sugar to the mix which really carmelized the pork nicely under the broiler. I originally thought we would serve it on soft flour tortilla's but decided soft, sesame hamburger buns would be better, with a bit of the reduced liquid drizzled on the inside of the top bun. I loved the contrasting crispy pieces of tender pork with the squishy bun.
For those of you who have CI's online subscription (I don't), you can access the recipe from the website. Happy to type it up for this forum if anyone is interested.
Hello. My name is Carrie, and I...I....still like oaked Chardonnay. (Please don't judge.)