Braised Pork Cushion

Cushion meat comes from the pork shoulder (picnic) anterior side of the humerus bone; It is a three dimensional triangle in shape...sometimes called the pork tri tip; it is lean lean and flavorful.

                                                            

I like to use the cushion because it has the same great flavors of the whole shoulder but the size makes it easy to handle and it is fully braised in 2 to 3 hours.

You absolutely need a very heavy bottomed pan to brown the meat. All clad and or Le Creuset are my choices. They need to be deep to hold the meat and braising liquid and have a good lid.

Browning the meat before starting the braise is the most intense part of this recipe, and the step most people skip or are not aggressive enough to get the fullest flavor. The meat should be golden brown all over, it takes some time and high heat, the oil shouldn’t burn, but it is close.

Ingredients

4 lbs pork cushion meat

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tbsp kosher salt

1 tbsp fresh ground black pepper

2 tsp ground fennel seed

1 tsp ground rosemary

2 cloves garlic

1 cup diced celery

1/2 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced onion

1 14.5 oz can of good diced tomatoes with juice

4 cups low sodium chicken broth

2 cups dry white wine

Pre heat oven to 350F.

Pat the cushion meat dry with a paper towel. Rub the meat with a little olive oil.

Take all of the dry herbs and spices and mix them together and generously rub all over the oiled cushion meat.

Get your pan hot and add the remaining olive oil, brown each piece of meat individually on all sides, then set aside. Do not be shy about this the browning gives all of the great flavor. Adjust your heat as needed to prevent burning, but keep it hot.

After all of the meat is browned add the celery, carrots and onion, stir and scrape all of those little bits off the bottom of the pan. The liquid from the veggies should be enough to get most of this released. Don’t burn the veggies but give them some color. Add the garlic for about a minute then put in the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes on high heat until they thicken a little and deepen in color, add the wine. Bring back to a boil.

Place the meat back into the pan and add enough chicken stock to bring the liquid to about 2/3 up the side of the meat. Make sure the liquid is boiling, cover tightly and put in the oven about 2 hours.

Let the cushion rest in the liquid for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Homemade Ricotta

I have been making fresh Ricotta at home for several years. It is so easy and after you get a couple of basic tools the expense is far less than buying good quality Ricotta at any store.

There are only 4 ingredients.

1 gallon of fresh whole milk
4 cups of cultured buttermilk
1 tbsp of kosher salt
Juice from 1/2 medium size lemon

You need a sturdy non reactive pot large enough for 2 gallons and some cheesecloth. Also nice to have are plastic cheese molds from any cheesemaking supply store. This is not absolutely necessary, but it makes the process easier and faster. A good sized slotted spoon . Mine is stainless steel about 4" in diameter. The spoon makes putting the curds in the baskets really easy. And while you are getting the hang of this an instant read thermometer will take away some of the guess work.

Pour the cold milk, cold buttermilk and add the salt to the pot. Stir to make sure everything is mixed up. Turn the heat to medium high. You want this mixture to heat up evenly and relatively quickly, but not scorch the milk. Stir occasionally to assure everything is coming to temperature evenly.

When the temperature reaches 110 F add the lemon juice and stir gently to mix evenly. Do not stir again, stirring breaks the curds and dramatically changes the texture. Contnue to heat until you see a break of curds and whey. A sort of greenish thin liquid is the whey. This usually happens at about 175F and you should remove from the heat.

If you heat above this the milk scorches and the texture gets grainy and dry, if you are much below this the yield is less, still tastes good, but you want to maximize the yield.

Let the mixture cool a little and rest. Use the slotted spoon to place the curds into a cheese cloth lined strainer of some sort and let drain for 30 minutes or so. I like to put the cheese in the refrigerator, uncovered for a few hours, it allows it to come together. Then store it wrapped in plastic.

Once you have done this a couple of times the process is quick and easy. Experiment with herbs and spices. You never knew Ricotta could taste so good.