The dish is super simple to make, eggs, flour, salt, pepper, herbs all mixed together and poured into a cast iron skillet over a few tablespoons of freshly made brown butter and then topped with cheese.

Mine did not puff up as evenly as Ashleigh’s but it tasted great. The bottom almost had the consistency of a pie crust and the top was salty and cheesy and crispy while the middle was eggy and custardy, a perfect combination of different flavors and textures and a great way to start off a Sunday.

For a recent spring potluck meal I made pickled shredded beets, using our mandolin to shred the beets into matchsticks (and chopping the beet green stems as well) then concocting a pickling spice mix (I think I used this recipe from Williams-Sonoma) and combining that with equal parts rice wine and cider vinegar. I didn’t pre-cook the beets, just put them into the hot pickling liquid and that quick cooked them. They were a hit at the potluck so definitely will go on the roster to make again.

Another good pickled topping recently discovered is pickled red onions. We made the Salt Baked Herbed Salmon with Onion and Caper Vinaigrette from Food52’s Genius Recipes cookbook and the salmon turned out wonderfully flavorful and moist and the onion topping was one of my favorite parts of the dish. That sauce ended up on tacos, eggs, salads and anything else I could think to put it on as we were going through the leftovers.

The menu was:

Spiced Roasted Chickpeas (Bekers)

Gazpacho with Basil Cornbread Croutons (Leggs) with Amas de Guerra

Bacon-wrapped Chorizo-stuffed Dates (Bekers)

Sausage and bean stew (Fabada Asturiana) (Leggs) with Berola

Jamon Tasting (Golds) with Alleme 2014 Txakolina

Roasted Mushrooms (Claire & Andy) with Vega Sindoa 2013

Grilled Spiced Pork (Claire & Andy) with Hacienda Lopez de Haro Rioja Riserva 2005

Blood Sausage with Toasted Bread and Olive Oil (Golds) with LZ Vinedos de Lanziego Rioja

Clam, Mussel, Shrimp and Chorizo Paella (Bekers) with Juis Canas Rioja 2008 Reserva

Roasted Patatas Bravas with Double Garlic Aioli and Red Wine-Braised Chorizo (Bekers) with Luis Canas Crianza Rioja 2009

Saffron Ice Cream with Crispy Jamon Chip & Tres Leches Ice Cream (Golds) with Pedro Ximened Bodegas To Albala 1983 Gran Reserva

So this recipe definitely wins out of all the scalloped potato recipes so far and will be added to the dinner repertoire.

We didn’t tweak a thing for the pork recipe aside from the cooking time as the original recipe calls for a six pound bone-in pork shoulder and we had a three pound boneless shoulder. We put the meat in at 8:30am and after four hours or so checked it every hour to see if it was pulling apart tender yet. By the time we were ready to eat at 5:30pm the meat was perfectly tender and only needed gentle pulling apart to portion it out. I think our piece of pork has less fat than usual as we didn’t end up with any juices to baste with and make the glaze, but things still turned out very juicy and tender (and I loved the crunchy, spicy exterior).

For the tomato gravy we had all of the ingredients in the pantry however we did not have fine white cornmeal so we substituted the yellow corn grits we did have and spun them through the food processor first to get a finer grind. As the cornmeal was toasting it smelled like bacon flavored popcorn, yum (note to self, need to try popping popcorn in bacon fat). Even though the gravy is super simple (just bacon fat, cornmeal, San Marzano tomatoes, salt and pepper) it really did pair well with the pork and was quite tasty on its own as well.

This was the first time we’ve cooked out of Heritage, but after the success of the dishes tonight, certainly won’t be the last.

Slow-Cooked Pork Shoulder

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

14 hours

Total time

14 hours 10 mins

 

Author: Sean Brock - Heritage

Recipe type: Meat, Entree

Cuisine: Southern

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 bone-in pork shoulder (also called butt; about 6 pounds), skin removed
• ½ cup Dijon mustard

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 250F. Place a rack in a roasting pan.
2. Combine the brown sugar, salt, pepper, and paprika in a small bowl and blend well.
3. Using a brush, paint the top only of the pork with the mustard.
4. Pat on the seaoning mixture.
5. Place the pork on the rack in the pan and roast, uncovered, for about 14 hours, until the meat is tender but not falling apart; baste it occasionally with the pan juices during the last hour to make a glaze.
6. Remove the pork from the oven, transfer it to a platter, and let it rest for 10 minutes.
7. Reserve the juices in the roasting pan, skimming off any fat from the top as the pork rests.

Notes

Recipe from Sean Brock's Heritage cookbook Copyright 2014

3.2.2885

Technically I think the dish turned out well, the potatoes were cooked through, the sauce was creamy, the cheese browned, but I definitely under-seasoned things. I deviated from the original recipe and added about 1/3 cup of milk to the potatoes when they were boiling as it just didn’t seem like there was enough liquid there to cook with. I should’ve trusted the recipe on that step, once the potatoes settled into the pot and were stirred periodically there was more than enough milk there and I think my additional liquid made the end result runnier than it was supposed to be.

You’re instructed to season to taste right at the end of the boiling-potatoes-in-milk step of the recipe and I thought things tasted ok at that point, but by the time everything had baked together (and the potatoes absorbed the half and half) the result was a bit on the bland side. I added cayenne pepper as well as the nutmeg the recipe called for and was hoping for a hint of heat to cut the super creamy sauce but I think I was too light-handed with that too.

I would also use a different cheese than Gruyere for the topping. For one, at least in Williamsburg, Gruyere was a bit difficult to find and rather expensive. Second, aside from allowing the top to brown and getting a little golden-brown-deliciousness there was little flavor that the cheese added to the party. It was also only added to the top of the gratin and not integrated at all. So next time I will use a cheese like cheddar, swiss or similar and and integrate it throughout the layers of potatoes as well as on top.

So, overall, a good recipe base, but lots of license can be taken with the seasonings and toppings to jazz it up, and next time that’s just what I’ll do.

Dinner came together perfectly with the pork, tomato gravy, potato gratin and roasted brussel sprouts with pancetta (provided by our dinner guests). Definitely need to go “Southern-inspired” for dinner more often. Simple ingredients, un-fussy recipes, and a good bottle(s) of wine? A recipe for success.