The best pork roast is a braise. Oven braised pork shoulder turns meltingly tender over four hours, with Mexican style flavours of chillies and cumin, following the recipe from Samin Nosrat.
What is braising?
For a long while I’d thought ‘braising’ was one of those cookery euphemisms used instead of ‘boiling’. You know, like ‘pan roasted’ instead of ‘fried’; ‘poached’ instead of ‘boiled’ and ‘fermented’ instead of ‘pickled’.
Braising involves cooking in liquid and what, pray, is that if not boiling? And as everybody knows boiled meat is gross.
Boiled meat usually results in something wet but also inexplicably dry. It pulls apart but the strands are chewy and tough.
It tastes of nothing, no matter how many aromatics floated alongside it in the broth. The fat doesn’t render but turns gelatinous and unappetising, and veins and gristle simply multiply in volume. As I said – gross.
Samin’s braising directions are genius
It turns out, for the millionth time, that I was wrong – braising is NOT boiling.
Technicalities are subtle but obvious: the meat is only half-submerged in the liquid, it needs to be browned in the pan (shall we non-euphemistically say ‘fried’?) beforehand, and the cooking takes place in the oven instead on the hob, which for some reason is more appealing.
The result is epic: tasty, juicy and so tender it falls apart when you look at it. Serve it sliced as if it was a roast, like below. For an ultimate pulled pork taco experience shred it with two forks when hot and toss in the strained sauce.
This is not as much a recipe as directions from Samin Nosrat, the Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat author: she shies away from defining her book as a recipe book giving the readers much more than dry instructions.
So, as Samin says, once you’ve mastered one braise you can swap ingredients and improvise. One dressing - many dressings. One pasta sauce – etc. etc.
The pork braised with chilies is the original Samin invention and I can’t wait to try out improvisations: brisket awaits, chicken beckons.
How to prepare pork shoulder for braising
Most pork shoulder joints sold in supermarkets come with the rind attached or wrapped in it. Which is lovely for cracklings, but this is not that kind of recipe. We aim to end with deliciously tender and flavoursome meat but not exactly roasted crisp. Rind is redundant – it needs to come off.
If your joint is rolled and tied, you need to unravel it first, then trim off the rind, which is easier to do that expected. You can try and roll the meat back up and tie it up into a bundle again with kitchen string. Granted, it won’t look as neat as before, but it doesn’t matter.
Next comes salting, generously, preferably a day ahead or as early as possible. Keep the meat unwrapped in the fridge while the salt is doing its magic, on a plate or a rack set on a plate.
Aromatics and braising liquor
As per Samin’s suggestion, I’m using chillies: gorgeous, mild dried ancho chillies and one or two fresh ones.
A whole head of garlic goes in, together with two onions. The spices are cumin, paprika and bay leaves, in tune with Mexican/Southern flavour line.
The liquid is provided by a tin of tomatoes with all the juices, and beer, be it ale or lager, or whatever you won’t be sorry to slosh into the pot.
Searing and browning
If you own a large, oven and hob-proof casserole, cast iron or aluminium, you’re laughing as you can use it both for browning the ingredients and for the oven braising. Otherwise it will have to be a frying pan for the start and then a transfer into an oven dish.
The meat should be thoroughly browned and seared on the hob first. It’s not about sealing juices which is nonsense, but about giving the meat the flavour of caramelisation. It’s about Maillard’s reaction and all that mouth-watering stuff.
Likewise the onions and aromatics should be given a head start in the casserole, browned in a little oil before they serve as a bed for the pork returning to the pot.
The liquid should come to about halfway up the meat. Bring it to a simmer, and off to the oven it goes, at medium heat of 160C/300F.
The whole braising process of a four-pound pork joint will take about three and a half to four hours of cooking, uncovered. The only bother is turning the meat in the braise every half an hour or so – but it’s worth it for the evenness of cooking.
If the liquid cooks off too much, top it up with water.
How to finish and serve braised pork
Once the meat is tender to the touch of a fork or a sharp knife, offering zero resistance, remove it carefully onto a plate. The sauce needs to be strained as the aromatics can now be mainly discarded, into a small saucepan, reduced on the hob to spooning thickness and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. You can add a squirt of ketchup or a spoonful of hot sauce, depending on preference.
Once the pork is rested and the sauce is ready, slice the meat thickly and serve with the sauce drizzled over. Alternatively offer the pork on a plate with two forks and the sauce on the side, for the shred-and-share experience.
More pork recipes
The best and the easiest pulled pork with smoked paprika rub, seared and flambéed on the hob followed by slow braising in the oven. Perfect for amazing tacos, sandwiches and pasta or rice topping.
Pork shoulder steaks with sage butter, seared on a griddle and finished in the oven. Pork shoulder steaks are best cooked for 5-6 minutes on each side plus 10 minutes in the oven.
Neapolitan pork braciole in tomato sauce, braciole napoletane al sugo, an authentic and classic Italian Sunday lunch dish of stuffed pork roulades braised in tomato sauce.
More Mexican recipes
Easy slow cooked chilli con carne with minced beef, cannellini and kidney beans, ancho chillies and a pinch of cocoa powder. Happiness is a warm tortilla!
Pink Mexican rice, arroz rojo, is easy and incredibly tasty. Spicy restaurant style Mexican rice is cooked like pilaf, with tomato and onion puree for the colour, chillies for the heat and diced potato and carrot for the texture.
Quick pickled jalapeno peppers, crunchy and sweet and hot. The best pickled jalapenos are homemade, and these are ready within about an hour. Make sure you wear gloves!