Quick Food Update

 I arrived home a bit early from work today and was met by my fiancé with a pork shoulder, some bratwurst and chicken and a request to make something "yummy". Knowing that the pork shoulder would take several long hours to cook properly, I decided to make two primary dishes, one for dinner tonight and one to carry us into the week.

The first thing I set out to do was remove some of the extra fat from the pork shoulder. I planned to render this down to serve as the base for the chicken and rice dish that I had planned. Since I wasn't able to head out to the store, I had to make due with what we had in the kitchen. Being from the south, I am a firm believer that NOTHING tastes quite as good as pork fat, or in this case, items cooked in pork fat.

As you can see, the pork shoulder was encased in fat on two sides, so I trimmed off the fat from one side, being sure to leave the meat intact.

Once the fat was removed, I cut it into strips and braised it in a cast iron skillet with garlic, onions, olive oil and some Guinness Black Ale. Once the fat cooked down a bit, I added some fresh (from our home garden) dried (in our dehydrator) sage & rosemary and topped everything off with a little salt & pepper.

I then let the mixture simmer on low, adding beer now and again to keep the reduction hydrated.

 While the pork fat was rendering, I soaked the shoulder in a brine bath, using Celtic Sea salt. I LOVE this stuff. It has a very distinct, mineral flavor and unique granular texture more akin to sugar than most salt. It works great with most meat, but really shines on pork.

I let the pork soak in the brine for about an hour and then braised it in the oven fat-side-down at 450 degrees. Typically, when brining pork, I would let the meat sit for several hours or even overnight. However, I knew that I would be short on time so I wanted to get the meat cooking quickly.

 After about 15 minutes at 450 degrees, I turned the oven down to 200 and liberally spiced the fat-free side of the pork with more sage, Celtic Sea Salt, rosemary, a little butter and pepper. While the pork was cooking, I pureed some fresh Asian pears in a little peach schnapps and added honey, soy sauce, black bean past, cumin and a little minced habernero for heat. This was simmered over low heat until the pork shoulder started to brown (about 2 hours at 200 degrees) and then I used this mixture to baste the pork should approximately every 15 - 20 minutes.

While the pork was slow cooking, I made a reduction using a bottle of Innis & Gunn Rum Cask Ale. This beer is slow aged in rum barrels and comes out with a slightly sweat finish. To the warming ale I added some diced apples, sage, rosemary, brown sugar, garlic, onion, a dash of horseradish and a pinch of coarsely ground black pepper. Once warm, I diced up some bratwurst and sautéed that in the mixture. After removing the bratwurst, I poured off the liquid, which I used to cook brown rice. I like my rice a bit undercooked, so I removed it from heat after about 15 minutes. I took the drippings from the bratwurst mixture added a little butter and some more Innis & Gunn Ale and pan sautéed four chicken breasts in the mixture until the very center was lightly pink. I then combined some of the rice with the bratwurst mixture as a stuffing for the chicken and finished baking the bird in the over at 200 degrees for another 10 - 15 minute. I plated the stuffed chicken with a simple salad of mixed greens & an olive oil & lemon dressing. You can see the result in the photo above. Of course, I saved one bottle of Innis & Gunn to accompany my dinner.

 As I write this blog entry, the pork shoulder is approaching the 4 hour mark and really starting to look tasty. The Guinness reduction that I used to baste the meat is starting to crystallize quite nicely, sealing in the pork juices. I will probably let this cook for a few more hours and then let it cool overnight. We should have enough succulent pork to last us for the better part of the week.