Pork and beans

Recipes: Braised pork shoulder with chiles, Baby lima beans

This post's title is a play on a childhood staple - Campbell's pork and beans, which comes in a can and was a reliable lunch or dinner when I was a kid. We all loved it - or at least we preferred it to the usual "adult" food we were offered. The "pork" was one or at the most two tiny pieces of fat, and the beans were cooked in a tomato-y sauce. It was probably laden with sugar and salt, always attractive to kids. All you had to do was heat it up.

The pork and beans we're talking about here isn't anything like that, apart from the name. Our pork is Alice Waters' version of slow-cooked pork shoulder braised with dried chiles, and the beans are baby limas cooked separately and served as a bed for the pork and its mouth-tingling sauce. Yum, yum, and double yum.

Braising is an especially good way to cook a shoulder roast, whether it be pork, or lamb, or beef. Shoulder is a muscular, sinewy roast marbled with fat that has maximum taste and tenderness when cooked right, but it must be cooked for a long time at relatively low temperature in order to achieve those heavenly qualities. I usually use a boneless roast, but if you can get a shoulder roast with bone in, the flavor will only be enhanced and the meat will fall off the bone when it is finished.

The roast can easily be done in a slow cooker. Just follow the recipe except put everything in the cooker in the morning, cover it, and turn it on Low. Forget about turning it. It'll be done and totally yummy by dinner time. The lima beans don't really need to be soaked prior to cooking, but if you feel better doing so just soak them for a couple of hours rather than overnight. Limas cook rather quickly so the fact that they don't need soaking makes them ideal for an after-work accompaniment if in fact you decide to do the roast in the slow cooker. In a pinch, you could also just warm up canned or frozen limas, although I like the results of using dried beans better.

Pork Shoulder Braised with Dried Chiles

Make a dry rub by mixing together:

• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• A good grind of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground chile

Season on all sides with the rub:

• a 2-pound pork shoulder roast  

If you can do this the day before and keep the roast, seasoned and covered with cling film, in the fridge overnight, do it. If not, just season it all over before cooking. If you have the roast in the fridge, take it out one hour before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Put in a heavy baking dish or roasting pan that just fits the roast (or in the pot of your slow cooker):

• 1 onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 dried chiles. Anchos are good, one ancho and one dried chipotle would be good and spicy, dried chiles of any kind you like can be used. Take out the seeds and break the chiles up into pieces. This roast is also delicious with no chiles at all.
• 8 large cloves garlic, peeled and halved
• A few black peppercorns
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Place the seasoned meat on top of the vegetables and pour in:

• 1 cup chicken broth (1-1/4 cups if you are using the slow cooker rather than the oven)

The liquid should come about 1/4 of the way up the roast. Add more if necessary.

Cook, uncovered, in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the roast over and cook for 30 minutes, then turn again. Cook for another 30 minutes and test the meat for doneness, continuing to turn and cook until done. In my experience, this takes about 2-1/2 hours, or 2+ turns, for a 2-pound roast. All ovens are different, and yours may take a little longer.

If you are using dried beans, you can start cooking them any time after you've put the roast into the oven.

Remove the meat from the pan and let it rest on a cutting board for 10 minutes. It should be very tender and almost falling apart. Alice Waters' recipe suggests skimming the fat off the sauce and putting the sauce and vegetables through a food mill to make a gravy for serving. I have most often just served the vegetables alongside slices/pieces of the meat with a little of the sauce to pour over. Suit yourself. It will be delish either way.

Baby Lima Beans

• 3/4 cup of dried baby lima beans, picked through for stones and rinsed under cool water.

Normally beans call for a few savory additions, like onions, carrots, and garlic. Since these beans will be served under a savory roast, vegetables, and sauce that's really not necessary here.

If you've soaked the beans, add water to measure at least two inches above the level of the beans. Bring them to a boil, turn the heat down to low/medium low, and put a cover at an angle to partially cover the pot. Do not add salt yet, do not continue to let the beans boil. They should simmer gently...low and slow.

After 30 minutes, taste the beans. If they are not almost soft, continue to cook them low and slow. After 10 more minutes, taste them again. Always keep an eye on the liquid; the pan must not cook dry. Add a little water if necessary. You are trying to find the moment when the beans still have the tiniest bit of bite, but are almost perfectly soft. Keep tasting until you find that moment, then add 1 teaspoon sea salt and 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme. Cook a few minutes more, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, or until perfectly soft. Turn off the heat and put the cover on the pot to keep the beans warm until the roast is ready to be served.

To serve, spread the beans on a serving platter with a slotted spoon so any remaining liquid stays in the pot. Top with slices of pork surrounded by the vegetables. Pour a bit of the roasting pan juices, or the sauce/vegetable gravy, over it all. Dig in!

Buon appetito!