Homemade Braised Pork

Name: Braised Pork Shoulder with Root Vegetables: Homemade Recipe
Prep time: 2 h
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 3 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Pork shoulder 0.5 kg; Onion 2; Carrot 1; Parsnip, celery 100 g; Garlic 3-4 cloves; Vegetable oil 4 tbsp; Parsley, dill to taste; Salt, black pepper, coriander, thyme, bay leaf, flour to taste

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3 h

Homemade braised pork is a wonderful dish. It isn’t quick to make, but its refined flavor rewards the effort. Home recipes usually differ a great deal from the standard versions. I’ve always been amazed at how a familiar dish changes depending on the cook’s preferences.

Cooking meat takes a certain knack. Still, there is nothing difficult about it, and how widespread meat dishes are around the world proves it. Because of ethnic, religious, and other traditions, many cultures avoid the meat of certain animals. But pork, the meat of domestic pigs, is one of the most in-demand in the world. I read somewhere that pork is the most common meat in both home and restaurant cooking.

Pork can be cooked in hundreds of ways. Fried pork with onions — a favorite home dish, especially with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. Sometimes we make pork kofta — grilled ground meat patties with onion and cumin, or a simple dish of pork with rice. And I also love braised pork, in pieces or in one whole chunk, with a thick vegetable sauce.

Braised pork in a thick sauce of sautéed vegetables, in which the meat itself is braised, takes up to 1 hour, not counting the preparation of the meat. To bring out the flavor, the meat should first be dry-marinated in a mix of aromatic spices and, as I like to do, studded with garlic.

8 ingredientsTo the recipe

More with pork neck or shoulder

Buzhenina – Pork Roast Baked in Foil

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Stuffed Peppers with Pork and Rice in Tomato Sauce

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Pan-Fried Pork with Onions

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Ingredients

2 servings

Pork shoulder 0.5 kg
Onion 2
Carrot 1
Parsnip, celery 100 g
Garlic 3-4 cloves
Vegetable oil 4 tbsp
Parsley, dill to taste
Salt, black pepper, coriander, thyme, bay leaf, flour to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Pork braised in large pieces turns out best from not-too-fatty meat with a minimum of membranes and connective tissue. The shoulder or the rear leg works well. It is better not to use the neck: this part of the carcass is quite fatty and won’t hold its shape during braising. Allow 250-300 g of meat per serving.
Trim the fat, membranes, and any bone splinters from the pieces of meat. Wash the meat and pat it dry with paper towels. Peel the garlic and cut it into 6-8 thin slivers. With the tip of a sharp knife, make slits in the pork and stud the meat with garlic, as you would when making homemade buzhenina.
In a mortar, combine coarse salt, black or mixed peppercorns, and coriander seeds in equal parts, and add 1-2 pinches of thyme. Grind the spices, fairly coarsely is fine, and rub the mixture into the pieces of meat. Put the pork on a plate, cover, and refrigerate to dry-marinate for up to 2 hours.
When the marinating is done, dredge the meat in flour and fry it in 2 tbsp of vegetable oil until it has a golden crust. The meat doesn’t need to cook through here, since it will go on cooking for quite a while.
The dish calls for fresh parsnip and celery roots, which give it a remarkable taste and aroma. Meat with these vegetables comes out quite piquant. Celery and parsnip roots can be rather large, so you can simply cut a piece off a big root. You need about 100 g of roots in total. You also need an onion and a carrot.
Peel the parsnip, celery root, and carrot and cut them into large cubes. Peel the onion and cut it into thick strips.
Heat 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the parsnip, celery, and carrot over medium heat until lightly browned.
Add the sliced onion, reduce the heat, and fry everything together until the onion turns a nice golden color. Season the vegetables with a little salt and pepper.
Transfer the fried pork to a sauté pan and add all the fried vegetables. Add 1-2 bay leaves and pour in 2 cups of water (400 ml) or vegetable broth. Bring the liquid to a boil, then reduce the heat to the lowest setting that still keeps it simmering. By the way, after 10-15 mins of cooking, remove the bay leaf, or the dish will have a pronounced bay flavor.
Cover the pan and let the dish cook for up to 1 hour. If the liquid has boiled away, add a little boiling water from the kettle. If there is too much liquid at the very end, take off the lid so the excess can evaporate. A few minutes before it is done, season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. If you like, you can also add a pinch of hot pepper to the sauce.
The finished dish goes very well with a side of boiled rice or mashed potatoes. Spoon the side dish onto plates as a border around the edge, pour the vegetable sauce in which the pork was cooked in the middle, and set a whole piece of braised meat on top of the sauce. Sprinkle the meat and sauce with finely chopped herbs.
Pork with vegetables is served only hot, before it cools. It is a tasty, hearty main course that goes well with fresh bread and fried rice, with a small amount of Eastern spices (star anise, anise, saffron) and soy sauce.
Before serving, it is quite appropriate to slice the large piece of braised meat into thick slices and arrange them on the plate.