.88c is a great deal! Not sure why but there have been a lot of great sales on pork shoulder lately, our local markets here (Shoprite) had sales on them last month for 79c and 59c/lb. Absurd prices.
I don’t cook for crowds much any more, if I did it would be great roasted whole. It’s a really versatile cut, you can slice it up and do taco/burrito type things with it, make a stew/soup/chili, pulled pork, pretty much anything goes. It’s great just grilled or pan fried too.
My mom made an enormous pot of pork and kimchi stew also. Mmm.
I apologize for soapboxing on your post… but this isn’t real bossam, in case anyone cares. Not that Chang’s rendition isn’t delicious, but traditional bossam is boiled pork served with some form of fresh kimchi. It’s one of my favorite dishes ever and I highly recommend trying the “authentic” version!
Something that would freeze well is a ragu. I often make one with beef shin and they are similar in that they both need to be cooked slowly and gently. I have tweaked this, as it’s pork. I cant’ give exact quantities as I always do it my eye.
Pork shoulder cut in large cubes approx 2"
Small dice of onion, carrot and celery (probably 2 onions , 2 carrots , 2 sticks of celery)
2 x 400g tins of tomatoes.
Chicken stock
Crushed fennel seeds
Dried oregano
white wine/dry sherry or dry vermouth.
tomato puree
salt and sugar(depending on tomatoes to taste)
olive oil.
Preheat oven to 150c
Brown the pork pieces in batches in a pot that can go in the oven and has a lid and once browned, remove.
Turn down the heat and sweat off the onions, carrot & celery, once soft add the fennel seeds and oregano. Cook for 2 mins. Add salt.
Add the tomato puree and cook out for 2-3 mins.
Add a good glug of white wine/dry sherry or dry vermouth. Turn up the heat until all the liquid has almost gone. Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 mins. Check the seasoning and add more salt and maybe sugar if the tomatoes are too acidic. Add in the pork pieces.
Top up with chicken stock to cover all the meat.
Cook in the oven at 150c. Probably take around 2 hours maybe a bit more. After one and half hours check the meat. Keep checking until the neat is tender. Once tender remove the pieces of meat and shred with two forks. Set the meat aside.
Put the pan back on the hob and reduce the sauce until thickened. Add the shredded meat and simmer for 5 mins so it all combines.
Serve with whatever pasta takes your fancy ( I would go for pappardelle or rigatoni).
Freeze whatever’s left.
I love bossam, one of my favourite things when I was in South Korea. A bit tricky to order for 1 though. I ordered some in on Jeju and they looked a bit puzzled. Once it turned up I realised why. Two people next to me ordered it and apart from some extra pork and a soup and rice each I got the same amount of food. It was all delicious though.
You guys are the best! I recently made and froze (is that a word?) some ragu, and hope to use it for some lasagna for husband, which I haven’t made since we were dating! He calls that a bait and switch. If that simplifies the process as much as I hope, more will be needed. I am making rolls and cauliflower salad for a meeting tonight, and will then tackle the boneless pork shoulder.
I can’t recommend an exact recipebut i do know mexican posole uses pork- looks like that varies by recipe if it’s the shoulder or butt or whatever, but the few times i have had (vegetarian) posole it’s excellent and perfect for chilly weather. Fresh cilantro to garnish is important
So I almost didn’t post this, because I ended up making something I found elswere, and worrying someone might feel I didn’t appreciate all the help I’ve gotten on this, and other threads.
I DO!
By the time I started cutting up the boneless shoulder, and separating out the parts my husband would call “fatty” (" he’s baaaack!" . It’s a good thing. ), I pretty much needed a recipe for ground pork.
Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
34
I’ve made caramel pork once. I never thought there would be something porky that I didnt enjoy but this was it. Flavours just weren’t right for me at all.
The color of the powder, reconstituted in oil, per directions, looks all wrong. Paste looks right, but includes other ingredients, and has no directions. Anybody have experience with achiote/annatto that might help?
A salty, garlicky oregano rub is massaged into the pork shoulder, which has been marked with a cross-hatch pattern. Then, it’s marinated overnight before the cooking begins.
A long time in the slow cooker—18 hours—yields a crusty interior and ultra-tender meat.
I’ve never used that filipino powdered mix, and I don’t make pibil all that often, but when I do, I usually use the paste. I don’t know if this is “correct”, but I’ve always just diluted it with juice, maybe throwing in a little “extra” herbs and spices according to mood/whim/how it smells… If you’re using all of the liquids the Serious Eats recipes calls for, just use those, diluting to the recommended consistency (more or less). (Or maybe more to the point, using enough paste to get the right consistency using the amount of liquid the recipe calls for?)
