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Pork Shoulder with Guinness,
Dried Cherries, and Sweet Potatoes

Serves 6 to 8

Pork shoulder is a classic for braising—the meat turns nearly spoonable but still slices nicely, and leftovers are great for sandwiches. In this recipe I've combined the pork with dried cherries and sweet potatoes, balancing their sweetness with the slightly bitter taste of Guinness stout and molasses.

Ingredients:

5 cups Guinness stout
1 cup dried cherries
1⁄3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable or extra-virgin olive oil
1 (5½-pound) pork shoulder roast
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 large red onions, peeled and sliced
½ teaspoon crushed black pepper
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
5 whole allspice, crushed
2 bay leaves
¼ cup molasses
3 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
2 pounds sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and roughly chopped

Instructions:

Bring the stout, cherries, and vinegar to a simmer in a saucepan. Transfer to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let sit for at least 1 hour, or refrigerate overnight.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F.

Warm the oil in a large cast-iron pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Season the pork shoulder with salt and ground black pepper and sear on all sides until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer the pork shoulder to a platter. Remove all but 2 tablespoons of the fat in the pot.

Add the onion and the crushed black pepper to the pot and sauté for 7 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking until the onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 to 3 minutes longer. Add the pork shoulder, the marinated cherries and liquid, allspice, bay leaves, molasses, brown sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 cups water. Bring the mixture to a simmer.

Cover the pot, transfer it to the oven, and braise for 1 hour, turning the pork once during cooking. Add the sweet potatoes and continue to braise for 2 more hours, turning two more times. If the sauce is too thin or is not flavored intensely enough, ladle most of it off into another pot and simmer it until it thickens and intensifies. Then add it back to the first pot.

Slice the pork and serve with the sauce on top.

Duck with Green Picholine Olives

Serves 4

This duck recipe is almost a cross between a braise and a confit, since I leave all the fat under the skin during the cooking, then take it off the next day when it's hardened on the surface of the contents of the pot. The fat gives a lot of flavor to the sauce and keeps the duck legs extremely tender. This is an ideal dish to make ahead for a dinner party, since you do all the heavy lifting the day before.

Cooking duck with olives has been a classic method ever since olives became fashionable in France about 100 years ago. Their brininess and acidity work well with the richness of the duck meat. Serve this with crusty bread, because there will be plenty of good sauce for mopping up.

Ingredients:

4 to 6 duck legs (about 3 pounds)
Coarse sea salt or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
¼ pound sliced bacon, cut into 1⁄4-inch pieces
3 carrots, peeled, trimmed, and diced
2 small onions, peeled and chopped
2 small turnips, peeled and diced
½ cup green picholine olives, pitted
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
2 cups chicken stock (page 208) or low-sodium canned broth

Instructions:

The night before you plan to serve this dish, place a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Season the duck with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a medium cast-iron pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the duck legs and sear until golden brown on all sides, 7 to 10 minutes.

Transfer the duck to a platter. Pour off the excess fat from the pot. Return the duck to the pot along with the bacon and cook, stirring, over medium-high heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Spoon any fat out of the pot. Add the carrots, onions, turnips, olives, thyme, and bay leaf, and pour in the stock. Transfer the pot to the oven and braise, covered, for 2 hours, until the duck is tender. Chill overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the layer of fat from the top of the sauce and heat the duck in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the thyme sprigs and bay leaf and serve.

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Excerpted from Braise: A Journey Through International Cuisine by Daniel Boulud
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.