Margarita's International Recipes

Caucasus



Caucasus-style braised pork shoulder

This recipe is not truly Caucasian, rather, it's the type of dish they might make in the Caucasus region. I decided to make it any way because it sounded good and because the original recipe, at epicurious.com, got very good reviews. It was good, but I don't think worth the effort.

It will take you three days to cook this dish. You need to marinate it for 8 hours, let it stand for 1, cook it for 3, and then rest it again for another 8 hours - before cooking it once again for an hour. The results are a succulent and very tender pork - but not necessarily any more so than if you skipped the second resting period. The flavor was nice, though I thought rather mild - and I found the sauce to be to lack complexity. Mike liked it a lot, though.

I did make a couple of changes from the original recipe. For one, I bought the wrong type of meat - instead of the picnic pork shoulder roast it asked for, I got a pork shoulder blade roast. Also, I found it impossible to grind the spices to a powder in my mini-chopper. The skins of the coriander seeds, in particular, would not disintegrate. Hopefully you'll have better luck.

In all, I'm glad I made the dish but I wouldn't bother again.



Caucasus-style braised pork

Ingredients

  • 5 lb picnic pork shoulder roast
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tsp. kosher salt
  • 2 tsp. coriander seeds
  • 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
  • 3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 red onion, chopped
  • 2 cups water
  • 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
  • salt to taste

    Instructions

    Remove the skin and excess fat from the roast. Set aside.

    Mash the garlic and 2 tsp. salt to a paste. Grid to a powder the coriander, fenugreek and red pepper. Mix with the garlic and 2 Tbsp. oil.

    Make 2" deep slits all over the roast and put some of the garlic mixture into the slits. Rub remaining mixture all over the meat. Marinate roast in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 8 hours.

    Bring meat to room temperature for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350ºF.

    In a wide pan, heat 2 Tbsp. of oil over moderately high heat. Brown pork on all sides, about 8 minutes total. Remove pork and set aside. Add the chopped onions to the pan and fry until brown, about 8 minutes. Return pork to the pot, add water and 1 tsp. kosher salt. Bring to a boil. Cover with lid and put into the oven. Cook for 3 hours, turning the meat once. Cool the pork in the pan juices for about 1 1 / 2 hours. Then put in the refrigerator and let sit for at least another 8 hours.

    About an hour an a half before wanting to serve it, remove the pork from the refrigerator. Remove the fat from the surface of the pan juices. Let the roast sit on the counter while you preheat the oven to 350ºF.

    Place the pork in the oven and cook for 1 hour. Remove the pork from the pot and put in a serving plate. Add the cilantro and vinegar to the pan juices and mix well. Season with salt to taste. Serve sauce together with the prok.

    Adapted from a recipe,at epicurious.com


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