Crispy-Baked Pork Shoulder with Silky Onion Sauce

Yvette van Boven certainly understands comfort food. In her book Home Sweet Home, she returns to her Irish roots. We want to make this pork stew as soon as possible.

Method
Heat three tablespoons of butter in a heavy stew pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and, stirring occasionally, cook them over low heat for twenty minutes until very soft and brown.

Season the meat generously with salt and pepper. Scoop the onions out of the pot, add another knob of butter and sear the meat over higher heat until nicely browned on all sides. Sprinkle with the garlic, add the bay leaves and fried onions, and deglaze the pot with the stock and Worcestershire sauce. Bring everything to a boil, then turn the heat right down so the meat can simmer, covered, for three hours. Turn the meat occasionally.

I let the meat cool in the sauce and leave it overnight, but if you want to eat it the same day: once the meat is tender, remove the piece of pork shoulder from the pot with a slotted spoon and let it rest and cool for an hour—though leaving it much longer is certainly fine too.

Cut the meat into six slices with a large, smooth chef’s knife. Reduce the meat juices to a thick sauce in thirty minutes. Melt the remaining butter in a frying pan and fry the pork shoulder slices on both sides for ten minutes until beautifully crispy. Serve with velvety mashed potatoes, wet, creamy polenta or a delicious celeriac mash.

Home Sweet Home
Yvette van Boven
Photography: Oof Verschuren
€29.99
Fontaine Publishers