Elegant Pork Butt dinner?

I LOOOOVE Pork butt, and not necessarily the pulled-pork type (which I also love). You can definitely cook it less where it stays in shape, and nicely carve it into beautiful slices, elegantly plated with its jus and one or two sides. 

One of my favorite ways to prepare pork butt is to roast it very, very slowly in the oven (300F). Actually I start it much hotter (475F) for about 15-20mn, then cook it slow. I'm not 100% sure of my numbers, I usually kinda wing it, but I think it's something like this for a 4-5 lbs roast: 

1) Tie the pork butt into a nice roast. 

2) Rub with fleur de sel or coarse sea salt. Many people will scientifically prove to you that salt is salt and it doesn't make a difference, my palate doesn't agree with them, and I'd rather trust my palate. You can rub with freshly ground pepper, and even stuff with a bit of salt and fresh sage if you wish. 

3) Place on rack in roasting pan and cook 15mn @ 475F, then 1:30 @ 300F. 

4) Pull out of oven, pull rack & pork out of the pan and rest with foil. 

5) Place roasting pan on a burner over medium to medium-high heat and add 6 onions cut in 4 quarters (I use 3 white onions and 3 red onions), also add 2 lemons cut in 4 quarters. Deglaze the caramelized pork juices with the onions and lemons while coloring them to golden brown. 

6) Add finely sliced sage to the onions and lemons, and a couple Tbsp honey. 

7) Push onions/lemons to the sides and place roast (without rack) in the center. 

8) Back in the oven for 1:30mn. 

9) Pull out of the oven, place onions, lemons and pork into a serving dish and keep warm (very low oven). 

10) Place roasting pan on a burner and deglaze with white whine to make a jus. 

If you do it right, the jus will be the highlight of the evening. You can strain the jus for an even more elegant presentation - but it's not necessary.

Hope you'll try it - let me know if you do!! :D

If my memory serves me right this recipe came from Marcus Wareing. 

That sounds like a really nice recipe, French! And if it's inspired by Marcus Wareing, I would certainly give that a go, he's a fantastic cook.

Maybe with a side dish of apple? I usually fry cubed sweet apples in butter first for a while, then add a handfull of dark raisins, a pinch of Chinese 5-spice powder, a good tbsp of soft dark sugar (type cassonade or vergeoise) other sugar may work too, a good squeeze of lemonjuice and let it caramelize lightly. Yummm! I made it recently with these pork boudins; http://www.cheftalk.com/t/67693/black-white

You might want to experiment with a picnic (pork shoulder).  I've used them lately in place of the pork butts when I smoked them for pulled pork.  They have a slightly different texture than the pork butts, and should slice better for the presentation you're looking for.  They come skin on, which I've removed when smoking them.  I don't know if that would be absolutely necessary for roasting, but it probably would.  I can't say it's better than the pork butt, but it's just as good. 

The "whole shoulder" is composed of the "Boston butt" and "picnic ham."  The butt is the higher part, nearer the neck (cushion), and the picnic is the lower, including more of the leg. 

When I do picnics in the oven I remove the skin in one piece, season the roast, and tie the skin back on.  That way we get delicious cracklings as well as the meat, and the meat itself won't dry out during the cook.  The skin and fat come off pretty easily, it's mostly a matter pulling without too much little help from your knife; not exactly grad level butchering, but you'll do a few sloppy jobs before getting it right.  

It's a good idea to tie just about anything which can be tied.  It makes for more even cooking, and a more compact, easier to slice roast or bird.  When a roast has been boned or butterflied, trussing is necessary to hold the roast together.  Trussing is really very easy, once you get the hang of it. 

FF's recipe looks very good.  Michael Chiarello has a recipe on his site for roast butt which you may like; the fennell/coriander seed rub is quite good and I've used the idea for one of my "stock" pork rubs.  When I do butt for something other than pulled pork (not often), I butterfly, stuff and roll.  Injecting isn't a bad idea with butt. 

BDL

A boston is more square, a picnic looks more tapered, like a ham, since it is basically the front leg.  Also the picnin will usually have a thick layer of skin and fat around most of it.

One thing I often do when serving pork roasts is use ginger snap cookies, finely crumbled, to thicken the gravy.  Ginger goes well with pork.

mjb.

team is right.  But easier still... If it's called a butt, it's a "Boston butt."  A picnic ham would be called a "picnic."

BDL

David Chang has an awesome recipe for pork butt cooked bo ssam style. A friend cooked it for a Christmas party dinner last year and it was AWESOME. Deliciously crispy, slightly salty and sweet, very porky and a traditional Christmas dish. ;)

Recipe is as follows, paraphrased from Chang's book for an 8-10lb butt bone in:

1 whole butt

1c granulated sugar

1c + 1 tbsp kosher salt

7tbsp light brown sugar

1. Put shoulder in a non reactive roasting pan that will hold it snugly. Mix together all the granulated sugar and 1c salt in a bowl. Rub all over the butt and discard excess. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight.

2. Heat the oven to 300F. Remove the pork from the fridge and discard accumulated juices. Cook the pork for 6 hours in the oven, basting every hour with the accumulated juices and rendered fat. The pork should be tender and yielding. If not rushed, let the pork rest for an hour at room temp.

3. Crank oven to 500F, stir remaining 1tbsp salt and brown sugar and massage that butt with the mix. Put it in the oven for 10-15mins until a crisp, sweet crust has formed.

4. Enjoy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koukouvagia 

That's a very nice recipe FF!  Pretty much what I was looking for.

 

I've always been weary of tying my roasts because I don't understand the value of it.  Can you help me with this?  Also, are the onions and the lemons meant to be eaten?  Does the jus have a lot of fat in it, does it have to be defatted?

Yes, defat the pan before deglazing. Some people don't defat, I guess that's ok too if you don't mind a fatty jus. It also depends how much fat the shoulder rendered. 

The onions and lemons are DEFINITELY meant to be eaten, they were caramelized in the drippings, sweetened with honey, flavored with the sage, slow cooked with the pork, they are absolutely delicious. My wife and kid both love biting into the lemons too, although I personally just squeeze them a bit over the onions. But the onions are absolutely delicious. 

Regarding tying, a pork butt is generally pretty shapeless, it doesn't really looks like a roast until you tie it. That means you'll have a shapeless piece of meat, with some parts that are thin, some thick, etc.. and by the time you've cooked through the thicker parts, the thinner ones will be completely undercooked. So I tie them to give them the shape of one big roast, so I can slow cook without fearing overcooking any bits. 

BTW BDL mentioned the skin, I never tried it, but the original recipe says to cut long slits through the skin about 1/2" apart on the entire surface of the skin, while keeping it attached to the meat, and rub it generously with coarse sea salt. Before serving, the skin is detached, cut into small pieces and served as a garnish. That sounds absolutely delicious but I've never had the occasion of buying a skin-on pork butt (yet). 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koukouvagia 

FF, I bet cippolini onions would work well.  Pardon me but I'd add garlic too, lots of it.  Can't wait to try out these ideas.

You're pardoned. 

Cippolini... why not... maybe leave them whole then? Personally I love to quarter white and red onions. First, they're quarters, giving them two flat surfaces, which is perfect to deglaze the roasting pan, and perfect to add golden brown color to the onions before slow-roasting them. Second, the two color onions make for two different flavors, and different colors on your dish. But I'm sure your dish would be very good too. 

Nice.  I usually slather mine with a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper, grated parmesan or romano, minced garlic and chopped fresh rosemary.  Splash a quarter cup of white wine over it before you throw it in the oven.  Roast at 300* in a convection oven.  Defat and deglaze pan with your choice of stock when done.  I usually use chicken stock because I always have it available.  Of course, if you have pork neck bones available, you could make a nice pork stock.  Correct seasoning.  The caramelized cheese adds a really nice extra depth of flavor to your sauce and the meat.

yeh. nice and crunchy, sweet and slightly salty.

This time of the year, I would cut the shoulder in chunks and make a nice stew. Maybe something interesting like a "ragoût of pork, wild boar style"?

Ignore this suggestion when it doesn't fit this thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisBelgium 

This time of the year, I would cut the shoulder in chunks and make a nice stew. Maybe something interesting like a "ragoût of pork, wild boar style"?

Ignore this suggestion when it doesn't fit this thread.

Not sure whether Kouk' would consider a stew elegant or not, but in that vein you could do a chili, for example BDL's chile verde which is delicious (made it a few times already): http://www.cookfoodgood.com/?p=78

PS: Chris would you have a recipe for a ragout of pork wild boar style? I'm interested! 

FF, here's my suggestion of "Ragoût of pork, wild boar style" to which you can add your own touch and interpretation.

Start by cutting the meat in not too small chunks, remove as much fat as you seem fit. Make a marinade of a bottle of good wine (Merlot is perfect), add an onion with 3 cloves pushed in, some juniperberries, a bouquet garni (bayleaf, parcely stalks, thyme..), peppercorns, a whole bulb of garlic sliced sideways in 2, rough chunks of carrot and celery. Simply add what seems logical and fit to you. I would add some stems of shiitakes (use the hats in the stew). Put the meat in, cover and let marinate 24h or longer.

Strain, and dry the meat, preserve the sieved marinade. Put the sieved marinade in a separate pot and let reduce by half. Brown the meat, a small batch at a time in a frying pan. Take your time for this, 1 minute per side is not enough, the chunks have to be nicely browned.

Meanwhile, in your castiron stewpot, on low fire, sweat roughly chopped onion and garlic to taste. Only then, put each finished batch of meat in the pot. When the meat is done, add the "petit jus", aka the remaining liquid in your frying pan into the stewpot, turn the heat up a bit and sprinkle with a tbsp of flour. Let cook for a minute. Let's not forget your frying pan; add a big part of the reduced marinade in your frying pan to deglaze. Scrape all the goodies from the bottom of the frying pan. Add that to the stewpot, together with the rest of the marinade. Add a good cup of stock (beef, veal, chicken, whatever you prefer), a tbsp of tomato paste, then add plain water until everything is just covered with liquid. Stir, cover, reduce the fire to low and allow yourself a beer.

After 45-60 minutes, add a few nicely cut carrots. Peel them, cut at 1 inch lenght, slice in equal 10-15 mm-ish thickness. Meanwhile, clean and peel 2 or more handfulls of white baby onions (we call them silveronions). Works faster when you blanch them a few seconds in boiling water! Cut the hats of the shiitakes in 4 chunks. Add the carrots raw to the stew. Fry the onions in butter untill golden brown (add a sprinkle of sugar) and preserve. Then fry the mushrooms and preserve.

After another 45-60 minutes or longer if needed the meat should be more or less done, add the onions,the mushrooms and a piece of dark chocolate (2 big bites is enough!). Small dash of cream and some parcely if you want.

Et voilà, "ragoût de porc, wild boar style". Serve with mashed potatoes maybe combined with celeriac. Red cabbage, apples, ...

KKV, how about using some chestnuts in the stuffing? Very autumny!

I'm sorry to hear the jus was bitter - it's supposed to be the highlight of this dish!! I wouldn't change the recipe to fix the bitterness problem, because the recipe as it is should not yield a bitter jus. It could be the onions. It could be the lemons. I don't think it's the garlic, or the roasting pan. 

Just yesterday I prepared a marinade for a chicken with all sorts of spices, onion, tomato, etc... including a healthy dose of saffron, only to throw the whole lot away before I put the chicken in because it was incredibly bitter. My guess is that it was the onions. I'm not sure what it is with onions, sometimes when cutting them they become unbearably bitter. 

Another day I prepared paella and pan fried the lemon quarters (I always do that with paella), only to find them extremely bitter - threw them all away and started over with other lemons, no problem. 

So that's just my guess, it could be the onions, or the lemons. 

Next time, I would recommend you taste everything all the time: taste the raw lemons, taste the raw onions, brown them in the roasting pan, taste again before putting back in the oven, etc... 

Best of luck for next time! BTW I've already prepared the dish with rosemary instead of sage and it was very good too. I'm sure thyme works equally well if that's your preference. I love thyme and rosemary, don't eat that much sage but sometimes it provides for a different flavor, a bit of a change. 

Lemon rind can be very bitter.  More than likely your lemons were very pithy, or perhaps you just got a bitter one.  Hate it when that happens.

There are a lot of options when stuffing pork.  A few of the basics are bread based, dried fruit and onion based, and greens such as spinach or kale), also usually with plenty of onion. 

Any bread type dressing you'd use with turkey will work beautifully, and you might want to think about sausage, cornbread and chestnuts (per Chris); but a greens stuffed roulade -- say spinach, onion, lemon zest, and pine-nuts -- would certainly make for a very elegant presentation.  But heck, they all do.  How about butter squash, onion and dried fig?   

Anyway...

BDL

Like BDL says  always tie a roast of anykind. To stuff a butt or shoulder, or loin, or tenderloin cut it down middle  long way not all the way thru(butterfly style) then place knife on each side of center cut outwards  and sought of filet the meat  , like doing a second and third butterfly. Now put on plastic wrap and pound so it is even and a rectangle shape season with your choice.. Stuff with whatever you like roll one end towards the other and tie making sure you tie evenly. Now refridge a while and have a beer.

     Take out and sear slightly then finish in oven This will cook quick as it is thinfrom pounding and the filling slightly steams the meat . Do not overccook . Many people overcook all kinds of pork,based on old wifes tales of  getting sick. You should be more worried about Chicken or Turkey and getting sick. Keep in mind that when you take out of oven it still cooks, in fact internal temp will rise. Slice about 1/4 inch and fan on plate over sauce so patron can see the filling  A .5 to 7 ounce portion is enough.Enjoy.

I serve mine fanned with a slice of fresh grilled pineapple between each slice.

I remenber once having cooked a chicken with lots of cloves of unpeeled garlic, black olives and slices of lemon. The lemon and the sauce were so bitter that we couldn't eat it. The sauce even smelled like... rotten lemons! I have never tried that again, but I often use lemonzeste, without any white of course.

In North African countries, people use a lot of preserved salted lemons in tajines. Even then, they cut the now softened and salted peel off and use only that. The rest of the salted lemons go in the bin.

KKV, you can butterfly meat yourself in less cuts. I usually (read in porkloin) make a slice at 1/3th of the height but not all the way through, fold that flap open, then cut where you just ended a few 15-20 millimeter downward, turn the knife and cut at approx. 2/3th in the opposite direction. Technically that's 2 cuts, just enough to fold the meat open to 3 attached parts, stuff the meat and tie nicely. I don't pound the butterflied meat, but it's done many times.

 Is that the type of butterflying I'm looking for if I want to make a stuffing?

That's basically it, KK. A lot depends on how thick the original cut is, and how thick you want the meat after it's been butterflied. Don't worry about how long it spreads out, as you'll be reforming it anyway.

There are several ways of butterflying. The number of cuts isn't so important. What matters is that your create a blanket of meat, roughly rectangular in shape, and with an even thickness. Season the meat, add your stuffing, and roll the blanket into a cylinder, tying it every inch or so with kitchen twine.

Boning and butterflying a butt is hugely different from butterflying a loin. 

A butt contains two bones:  the "h" (aka "aitch") and "pin," and while removing them isn't the most difficult task in the world, they do need to be removed.  The "h" in particular, must be carefully traced.  There are many pictorials and videos on the web which will show you which side of the roast is right side up before you start, and where to start.  Once you're oriented -- like all boning -- it's sharpness, patience and "feel" which will carry you through.  

If you've ever wondered what a "boning knife" does, this sort of technical boning is it.  You want a slim knife, not too long to handle comfortably, and you want it very sharp.  A long paring knife will do every bit as well as a boning knife.  Sharp.

When you have the bones out, the roast will be roughly split and butterflied.  Only then, if you want (I want!  I want!) you can start opening the center cut (from where you took the bone) and flaps to make the roast more even.  Butts are roughly rectangular to begin with, so evening them out won't take much work or trimming.  Picnics on the other hand...  Well, we'll save them for another thread.

Don't be too critical as you go, boning is one more skill where "perfect is the enemy of good."

If you don't want this much involvement, pork butt is often sold boneless; any "custom" butcher will bone for you; and most supermarket counter butchers will do it as well, but the counters aren't always staffed with a butcher so call ahead.  

BDL

NO  .TELL HIM TO DO LIKE i EXPLAINED IN ABOVE POST.  tHERE ARE RESTAURANT AND HOTEL BUTCHERS  AND BULK MEAT PLANT TYPE BUTCHERS.