Pork Braised in Milk

I adapted this from Marcella Hazan’s recipe for pork loin braised in milk.  The recipe comes from Bolgona, Italy.  Marcella indicates that the dish expresses “the genius of the cuisine,” and I would agree that it’s simplicity is genius.   As the milk cooks down it creates a delicate sauce of nut-brown flavorful cluster, and the pork becomes incredibly tender and flavorful.  The photographs don’t really do the dish justice, and honestly I only sprinkled it with parsley to improve its looks.  The flavor needed no help.

I did prepare this once with the pork rib roast that Marcella suggests, but I actually like to use an inexpensive pork butt or shoulder for the recipe.  I’ve done it on the stove top and slow cooked in the oven, and both ways turn out well.

Pork Braised in Milk

Serves 4

Adapted from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, vegetable oil or pastured lard

2-3 pound pork shoulder or other inexpensive pork roast, one that is well marbled with fat

2 cups, or more, of whole milk

Salt & Pepper

Heat a heavy bottom pot, one with a lid that fits the pork snugly, over medium high heat.  Add the oil, and then the meat.  Brown the meat on each side.  Add one cup of the milk, salt, and pepper.  Once the milk begins to boil, turn the heat down and simmer, with the lid partially covering.  Cook for an hour, turning the meat once or twice, and basting from time to time with the milk.   The milk is supposed to thicken, and turn into a nut brown sauce, at which point you add another 1/2-1 cup of milk.  You continue adding the milk like this, about 1/2 cup at a time, as the milk cooks down.  Altogether, it cooks for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  For whatever reason, it never seems to thicken like it should early on for me, so now I generally just add all the milk at the beginning, and then baste and turn the pork occasionally.  Either way is fine.  If after 3 hours the milk hasn’t thickened, I remove the pork roast and boil down the milk on its own over medium high heat.  You need to stand there and stir the sauce during this thickening process to prevent it from burning; it is done when it is thickened and brown, like in the pictures.  Allow the roast to rest on a cutting board for a few minutes, then slice, transfer to a serving platter and cover with the milk sauce.

If you want to slow cook it in the oven, choose an oven safe pan and preheat the oven to 300.  Brown the pork, add the milk and bring it to a boil as in the above description.  Partially cover the pan and place in the oven and slow cook 3-4 hours.  Remove from the oven, place the roast on the cutting board to rest, and boil down milk if necessary as described above.