The recipe is fairly straightforward: brown a pork shoulder or butt in some butter or olive oil, salt and pepper it up, then braise for about three hours in a quart of whole milk. (Don't do what I did and let it boil over, shorting out your electric oven. Eek! Luckily, the oven started working again after a couple of hours.) When the pork is fork tender, remove the meat, and reduce the milk sauce to a rich, deep, delicious brown. Serve sauce atop meat with a side of mashed potatoes.
This year I am focusing on creating (and upholding) holiday traditions. My New Year's meal for the past few years has been some kind of pork dish. Though this was something I had never heard of, pork is what many friends grew up eating on the first of the year. Now it's my first dinner each January.
Oh, and why eat pork? The short answer: since a pig roots forward, those who eat pork on the first of the year will also get ahead!
Photos of pork in progress:
Brown:
Braise:
Remove and reduce:
(Sorry no evidence of the finished product; I was so worried that I had destroyed the oven with my overflow that I forgot to take pictures! No one forgot to eat, though.)
Hope this yummy meal was an auspicious start to a delicious year.
