That’s one huge, honkin’ pile of pork right there. Honkin’ and delicious.
JR’s brother has two treatments for pork chops that have raised JR’s and my eyebrows for years (probably my eyebrows more than JR’s, actually). One involves cooking the chops on the stovetop in orange juice (makes my mouth pucker just thinking about it) and the other involves cooking them on the stovetop (I said “treatments”, not “methods”) in milk.
I had heard about slow cooking pork in milk from other sources as well, and, as pork shoulder is an inexpensive yet ridiculously tasty cut of the pig, and, as we are still burning fires in our wood stoves to provide heat, slow cooked pork shoulder in milk still fits the bill.
I’ve served this with a variety of sides, including the sweet potato-bacon cakes posted a few weeks back, sauteed collard greens, mashed potatoes, white beans, and roasted fennel. When I’m planning to serve it with roasted fennel, I throw the fennel fronds into the stew pot, but they aren’t a necessary purchase if you haven’t any plans for the bulbs already. I really don’t like us to buy things we don’t need, as you might imagine.
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 pounds pork shoulder
- kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 medium onions, quartered
- fennel fronds from two bulbs fennel, if using
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (depending upon your tolerance for the hot flake, of course)
- 4 cups whole milk
Instructions
- Aside from how delicious slow-cooked meals are, I love that they're about as close to no-fuss as you can get.
- First, season the pork shoulder with salt and pepper.
- Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or similar large stockpot with a wide bottom and tight-fitting lid. Once the oil is shimmering, place the pork shoulder into the pan and brown on all sides (to the best of your ability - pork shoulder isn't a rectangle, after all), 2 to 3 minutes per side.
- Remove the shoulder from the pan, reduce the heat to medium, then add the onion and fennel fronds if you're using fennel. Cook until they're just starting to soften, 3 to 5 minutes, then add the thyme, bay leaf, honey, and crushed red pepper, and give them all a good stir.
- Return the pork shoulder to the pan, pour in the milk, bring the milk to a gentle simmer, then cover and let cook, stirring occasionally (and being sure that the heat isn't too high - you don't want boiling milk at all. That would be bad, as the liquid could all boil off and leave you with a stuck-on mess in your Dutch oven. Boo. Hiss.). Cook until the pork is falling off the bone, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
- I like to pluck out the meat and place it on a platter (ideally larger than the one at the top of this post. That's just a plate, in fact.), as I don't use the cooking liquid or veggies for serving. Serve the pork forth with any of your favorite porky accompaniments. I'm pretty partial to those sweet potato-bacon cakes, I have to say. The leftovers are good in quesadillas, in pork and white bean stew, or on a sandwich with honey mustard, just to name a few options.
Estimated cost for one 3 to 4 pound pork shoulder: $9.06. The pork shoulder costs around $1.99 per pound, the one that I made last cost $5.85. This is for up to 12 servings, mind you. The olive oil costs 48-cents. The onions cost around 70-cents. The fennel fronds are optional – use them only if you have fennel that you plan to roast and serve with the pork, okay? So that’s a waste-avoiding move and they are therefore free. The thyme costs around 12-cents, the bay leaf is around 10-cents, the honey is 25-cents, the crushed red pepper flakes are 6-cents. The milk costs us $1.50, and that’s that.
Oooh, interesting! I’ve done braised pork before, but never with milk. I will have to give it a try – looks delicious!
I made this myself about a month ago, and though it was hard to get a really good photo it was mouth watering.
The version I chose to make had lemon zest and fresh sage for the aromatics. Delicious!
That looks absolutly fabulous!
I just added to my “I must absolutly try list”.
Thanks!