Bottega - Michael Chiarello [64]
Put the pork in a roasting pan and bake for 8 hours, removing the foil after 4 hours of cooking. Remove from the oven and let rest in the pan for 30 minutes.
Cut the pork into slices as best you can. The meat will be so tender it will fall apart, but nobody will mind if slices aren’t precise. (If you want real slices, bust out the electric knife.) Make sure to remove the twine before serving. Prop the pork on top of the apples (either rewarmed or served at room temperature) and drizzle the plate with mosto cotto and pan juices if you like.
CHEF’S NOTE: To butterfly a pork shoulder (with some help from your butcher), first, go to a real butcher shop—a place that doesn’t sell meat wrapped in plastic. Buy a pork shoulder and ask the butcher to make it a single sheet in thickness. You want a thin sheet of meat about 20 inches long.
When the sheet is open, you’ll see a gland that has to be removed. Scrape it off with a small knife and discard the gland. You can remove some fat from the sheet, but leave a good amount because this will baste the pork while it cooks. When you have the sheet thin and fairly even, give it a practice roll to see if it still looks even. If not, unroll the sheet again, and even it out. You can slice off sections of the meat and place them in thin spots. When you’re finished, roll it up again until you’re happy with the evenness of the roll.
Toasted Spice Rub
MAKES ABOUT 1 CUP
¼ cup fennel seeds
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1½ teaspoons red pepper flakes
¼ cup pure California chile powder
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
In a small skillet, toast the fennel seeds, coriander seeds, and peppercorns over medium heat, tossing frequently, until the fennel seeds turn light brown. Don’t let them get dark. Turn your exhaust fan to high, add the red pepper flakes, and toss-toss-toss (just three times), then immediately remove from the heat and empty onto a plate to cool completely.
In a blender, combine the cooled spices (don’t try to grind the spices before they’re at room temperature, or they will gum up your blender’s blades), chile powder, salt, and cinnamon. Blend until finely and evenly ground. If you have a small spice mill or a coffee grinder dedicated to spices, grind the fennel, coriander, peppercorns, and red pepper flakes, then empty into a bowl and stir in the chile powder, salt, and cinnamon. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 4 months, or freeze for up to 1 year.
Crispy Pork Shanks with Red Wine Vinegar Agrodolce and Wine-Cooked Apples
SERVES 6
Chef and friend David Burke showed me this crazy method of salt-curing and frying pork. It seems outlandish that you would fry pork after rolling it in sugar, but when you’ve tried this, you’ll be making it more than once. I don’t put butter on my bread just to save room for dishes like this one. When you add the agrodolce sauce, this pork is full-on messy, so it might be best to show up for dinner in a toga. If you want to make more of these, go right ahead: I like to pull the pork meat off the bone and add it to salads, fold it into a risotto, or serve it with pasta. You do need two big pots to make this dish, so if you have only one big pot, this might be a reason to invest in a second one.
Along with the agrodolce, which can be made a week in advance, I serve this with simple mustard greens. Whenever you spend more time on a single dish, offer fewer courses and make