A comforting stew of beer braised pork, caramelized onion, carrots and dried apricots that satisfies all of the senses. If you have time, let it rest overnight in the refrigerator. It's even better the second day.
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If using bone-in shoulder, remove the bone. Trim the visible fat from the pork and cut into large chunks. Sprinkle generously with salt/pepper.
Heat half of the olive oil and half the butter in a large Dutch oven over medium low heat.
When the sizzling on the butter starts to slow down, turn up the heat to medium. Add the pork pieces and brown on 2 sides, about a 1 – 2 minutes per side. You should do this in 2 to 3 batches to keep from overcrowding the pot. Add more oil and butter as needed.
Transfer browned pork pieces to a bowl.
Return the pork pieces to the pot with any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl.
Add 2 cups water.
Add the carrots and half of the apricots. Stir to incorporate. Liquid should be a little below the top of the ingredients as shown below. Add more water if needed. Spread the rest of the apricots on top.
Cover and transfer to oven.
Bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and check meat by using 2 forks to gently pull apart a chunk of pork. The meat is done when the piece easily separates. If meat is not pull apart tender, you'll need to cook another 30 minutes. But before returning to the oven...
check the liquid level. The liquid should have decreased and started to thicken. If you can't see any liquid then add ½ cup of water. At the end of 1 ½ hours you want the liquid thick and flavorful so, if it doesn’t need more liquid, then don’t add it. If needed, cover and cook an additional 30 minutes.
Just before serving, stir in parsley. Serve in large bowls with a crusty baguette.
Pork Shoulder - Pork shoulder or pork butt is always the best cut for braising, so don't be tempted to replace with pork loin.
Servings - 2 pounds of trimmed pork provides 4 generous servings. If you need 6 servings, use 3 pounds of trimmed pork and increase all of the ingredients by 50%.
Red chile flakes - If you don't have Aleppo or Urfa flake, then use what you have. With only 1/2 teaspoon, you are not going to get any heat, but the flavor of the red chile combines well with the other spices to create a depth of flavor.
Cooking in a Crock Pot - Based on feedback, you can cook this stew in a crock pot - 4 hours on high.
Leftovers - Since it's just the two of us, we easily get two meals from this. For the second meal, if I don't have bread, I'll serve it over a creamy polenta (with no cheese).
Recipe author: MJ of MJ's Kitchen