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.