One of my best friends from Dallas, David, was in town visiting this weekend from San Francisco. David, also a single guy (though he has a girlfriend, I'll define "single" later) living in a new town, shares a passion for cooking and eating well. Similarly, he struggles with the typical challenges of a single guy cooking for himself, friends, and a lucky lady or two. Nonetheless, like me, he is determined to find creative and resourceful solutions to eat well by his own means.
Saturday night, we enjoyed a surprisingly terrific meal at a new Latin restaurant, Meza, near my apartment. The dishes were awesome with a focus on small plates with a lot of Cuban and South American flavors. The highlight of our meal was the Havana – a Cuban sandwich with succulent braised then pulled pork, caramelized onions, melted cheese, cilantro, banana peppers and a variety of spices and sauce on a fresh oiled baguette- served warm. The sandwich was so good we woke up Sunday morning still talking about it. We were determined to replicate the Cuban flavors like the eccentric chef at Meza, whose peculiar attempt to keep his recipe secret while simultaneously announcing the ingredients as he dropped them into a sizzling pan made us chuckle. We would eat braised pork for an early dinner that night before David departed.
Within two hours, we left the Ballard farmer’s market with a pork hock (butt) and an assortment of locally grown, organic veggies: purple and yellow potatoes (all sizes, shapes, and textures), a bunch of carrots, and Walla Walla onions. With a little more than five hours before David left, we got home and straight to cooking.
The meal was fantastic - although not quite as good as the pork we enjoyed before (granted, it wasn’t served in a warm baguette with cheese, spicy sauce, etc.), we were still very happy with the final product. If we did it again, marinating the meat for 24 hours rather than 24 minutes, and braising for three plus hours, not two. Also, purchasing a smoked pork butt, not raw may have affected the braising process. We roasted rosemary potatoes and sautéed a simple asparagus in parmesan on the side – an atypical combination of sides for Cuban braised pork but definitely a good addition nonetheless.
Ingredients:The main event:
1.5 to 2 lb pork hock/butt (we bought smoked, not necessary) - could also use pork shoulder
The Marinade:
1 tbsp olive oil
The juice from one large orange, one large lemon, and one large lime
A handful of chopped fresh parsley
Four garlic cloves, mashed
10 shakes of pepper
generous tsp of cumin
generous tsp of salt
A bit of fresh oregano
For braising:
2 cups white wine (one for pork, one for drinking) - we used a Riesling (a bit sweeter)
Instead of wine, dark rum could be a better substitute - it was Sunday, liquor stores were closed so we resorted to wine.4 carrots chopped into 1/4, 1/2 and inch long pieces (for variety)
1/2 of Walla Walla sweet onion diced
A lot of chicken stock
Recipe:
Combine all marinade ingredients in a zip lock bag and shake to mix (see above photo). Marinate 24 hours, occasionally turning to make sure all sides of the meat are treated.
Preheat oven to 330F.
Heat oil in braising pot/pan/oven on high. Once the oil is sizzling, brown pork hock on all sides. Once browned, transfer to plate then add onions and carrots to pan and brown until softened. Deglaze pan with one shot tequilla and white wine. Scrape any brown bits off bottom of pan. Return the rest of marinade to the pot, plus pork and enough stock to cover the piece of meat.
Given you didn't forget to preheat oven, place pot in oven. Cover and cook for three hours, turning once or twice. If liquid gets too low, add some water.
When done, place on a cutting board, tent with foil, and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.
¡Buen provecho!
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