Chef John’s Pumpkin-Braised Pork
Description
Chef John’s pumpkin-braised pork takes a cooking pumpkin and fills it with seasoned pork shoulder and hard cider to make this easy, slow-baked recipe.
Ingredients
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3 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder
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1/3 cup thinly sliced shallots
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1 tablespoon kosher salt
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1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
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2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
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1 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds
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1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
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1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
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2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
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1 tablespoon olive oil
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1 volleyball-sized sugar pumpkin
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2 cups hard apple cider, or more as needed
Directions
1
Cut pork into large chunks; place in a bowl. Add shallots, salt, rosemary, black pepper, fennel seeds, thyme, and cayenne pepper; mix thoroughly. Cover pork with parchment paper. Refrigerate to let flavors develop, 8 hours to overnight.
2
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
3
Add flour to pork; toss to coat. Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pork in 2 batches until browned, about 3 minutes per side.
4
Slowly cut top off pumpkin by inserting the tip of a knife at a 45-degree angle into top; cut all the way around to remove “lid” with stem. Scrape seeds and fibers off bottom of lid and inside pumpkin using a large spoon or ice cream scoop.
5
Line bottom of a baking pan with parchment paper; place pumpkin on top. Stuff pumpkin with browned pork; pour in cider. Cover with pumpkin lid.
6
Bake in the preheated oven until pork is very tender, about 4 hours, adding a little more cider after a few hours, since it evaporates a lot. Remove from oven; rest. Brush pumpkin with some rendered fat from bottom of the pan.
7
Scoop pork onto serving plates; cut pumpkin into pieces to serve. Combine remaining rendered fat with cooking liquid from inside pumpkin; rest 3 to 5 minutes. Skim most fat off top of sauce; spoon over pork.