A Good Pork Stew

For my semi-regular column in The Savannah Morning News next week, I’ve been rediscovering pork in cuts other than the bland boneless loin and tenderloins that have become so popular in the last few years.

Tenderloins have their place, and there’s a recipe for them in that column, but there’s so much more to a pig than the tender little strips of lean, under-used loin muscles that run down its back.

My favorite ways to cook pork at this time of year are stewing and braising, and for those long, slow methods, the lean loin cuts are not necessarily the best candidates. A shoulder blade roast (Boston butt), on the other hand, takes to these methods like—excuse the expression—a pig to slop.

And while the shoulder, its muscles running in all directions around the blade bone and deeply padded with fat, isn’t as lean and easy to carve as the prime loin, it is infinitely more flavorful.

Buy a whole, bone-in roast and butcher it into stewing pieces yourself. It’s a little messy and takes a bit of time, but it’s not all that much more work and it’s certainly worth it.

Arm yourself with a thin-bladed boning knife or trimming knife and cut out the bone, but save it to add to the pot for extra flavor in the gravy. Then, using the padding fat that surrounds them as a guide, separate each muscle, trim off the fat and connective tissue, and switching to a broad-bladed cook’s knife, cut it down into one-and-a-half-inch cubes.

Though stewing and braising are simple methods, they’re not artless. There are two important steps that make a good stew a great one: browning and slow, careful simmering.

Browning the meat deepens the flavor, fills the house with a wonderful aroma, and lends color to the gravy. The slow simmer makes the meat tender and flavorful without reducing it to stringy mush.

If my attention is likely to be taken away from the pot or I’m cooking on a range that won’t give me a slow enough flame, I bake it in a heavy, covered Dutch oven at around 300 degrees.

Keeping those things in mind, you can take a pork stew in any direction you like, from the mellow, juniper and herb flavored Italian dish featured in next week’s column to the spicy kick of Chinese and Southeast Asian hot pots.

The stew that follows is deeply rooted in my own upbringing as a cook. In its rich aromas and deep flavors are all the things that have shaped my kitchen: the simple, earthy cooking of my childhood in the Carolina hills, enlivened by exposure to the cookery of France and Italy, and refined by a lifetime of cooking right here in Savannah.

Pork Stew with Mushrooms, Madeira, and Sage

Serves 8 to 10

1 ounce dried porcini mushrooms

8 ounces brown (crimini) mushrooms

4 strips thick-cut bacon, diced

Butter or olive oil, as needed

2½ pounds boned pork shoulder, trimmed and cut in 1½-inch cubes

2 tablespoons chopped fresh, or 1 tablespoon crumbled dried, sage

Grated zest from 1 lemon

Salt and whole black pepper in a peppermill

½ cup flour, spread on a soup plate

½ cup minced shallots or yellow onions

2 large cloves garlic, minced

1 cup medium dry Madeira

1. Put the dried mushrooms in a heatproof bowl. Bring 1 cup water to a boil and pour it over them. Let stand 30 minutes, then lift the mushrooms out of the soaking liquid, gently squeezing out excess moisture, and roughly chop them. Filter the soaking liquid through a coffee filter or un-dyed paper towel and reserve it. Wipe the dirt from the brown mushrooms with a dry cloth or paper towel and thickly slice them.

2. Sauté the bacon in a large, heavy-bottomed lidded sauté pan or Dutch oven over medium heat until browned. Lift out with a slotted spoon and reserve. There should be at least 3 tablespoons of fat. If there isn’t, supplement it with butter or olive oil.

3. Season the pork well with the sage, lemon zest, salt and pepper. In batches, roll it in flour, slip it into the pan and brown on all sides well. Remove it from the pan. Add the shallots and sauté until golden. Add the mushrooms and sauté until firm and beginning to color on the edges. Add the garlic, toss until fragrant, and return the pork to the pan.

4. Add the wine and reserved mushroom soaking liquid and bring it to a boil. Cover, and reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the pork is fork tender, about 1½ to 2 hours. Check periodically to make sure the liquid is not drying up too much, replenishing with water as needed. If, on the other hand, there is too much liquid when the pork is tender, raise the heat briefly and boil the cooking juices down until lightly thickened.