PORC À LA POÊLE

BUTTER-ROASTED—WHAT A HAPPY TERM! The name of this dish comes from the French verb poêler, which means to fry, and anything cooked à la poêle is cooked in a frying pan; how it came to denote butter roasting is obscure and may date to Auguste Escoffier, who describes the method in his Guide Culinaire of 1903. And while it’s rarely used today outside of cooking schools, it’s a technique worth noting. The basics are these: a big cut of meat is cooked in a covered pot in a medium oven with lots of aromatic vegetables and plenty of butter.

When I was a boy and pork was still marbled and therefore more flavorful, “pork roast” was a regularly featured meal throughout fall and winter. We “roasted” pork (and chickens) in a covered white-speckled black roasting pan because we didn’t know any better. But, lucky for us, pork shoulder is a tough, well-marbled cut that benefited from the hot steamy enclosure, especially when we put a packet of Lipton’s onion soup mix on top. Chickens, as noted earlier, are best roasted in high, dry heat. But they, along with larger birds, such as a big capon, are excellent butter-roasted as well, especially when served with the bed of vegetables they cooked on—the leg and thigh are tenderized by the moist heat and the breast doesn’t dry out.

The method is midway between roasting and braising. As with braising, there is no browning in the covered pot, with all that cooling moisture inside. Thus we need to start by searing the meat. We then cook the aromatics to whatever degree we wish (just sweated or, for more complexity, browned), return the meat to the pot, cover it, and pop it in the oven. The browning of the aromatics can be done up to 3 days before roasting.

Traditionally, the aromatic vegetables were referred to as matignon, which indicated that they were to be eaten along with the meat. And they can be served with the roast if they are not cooked too long (as with a chicken), or you can add wine and water to the pot after cooking the roast and make a pan sauce, straining out and discarding the vegetables. Or, as here, with the roast cooking for a good 90 minutes and releasing a lot of liquid, simply strain out the vegetables, remove the fat that rises, and thicken this perfect sauce with a slurry or beurre manié. Because you’re straining out the vegetables, it’s appropriate to prepare and serve the same type of vegetables afresh, glazed or roasted as you wish.

For this recipe you can use any size roast you wish. I plan on 6 to 8 ounces/ 170 to 225 grams per person when I’m buying the roast, and I figure it will take about an hour to an hour and a half to cook. Unlike pork chops, which I like to serve just over medium-rare, while the meat is still pink and juicy, I think a pork roast should be cooked medium to medium-well. At about 140°F/60°C, it will still be a little tough, so you’ll want to slice it thinly. Or take it to 160°F/70°C, which allows the tough muscle time to become tender; because of the marbling in the shoulder, it will still be juicy, like the pork roasts of my youth. I also tie the roast, because it looks better and cooks more evenly. Because of the long cooking time, it’s important to choose a well-marbled cut of pork, which is rare in today’s supermarket. Try to find a farmer near you who raises pigs; that’s all but guaranteed to be better tasting—better on all counts, in fact—and worth the extra cost and effort.

1 (3- to 5-pound/1.35- to 2.25-kilogram) boneless

pork shoulder roast

Kosher salt

1 teaspoon black peppercorns, lightly crushed in a mortar or beneath a sauté pan

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, lightly crushed in a mortar or beneath a sauté pan

Vegetable oil

½ cup/110 grams butter

1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced

2 carrots, cut into large dice

5 garlic cloves, gently smashed

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 bunch thyme, bound with butcher’s string

2 tablespoons flour kneaded into 2 tablespoons/30 grams

room-temperature butter (beurre manié)

SERVES 6 TO 10

PREHEAT the oven to 350°F/180°C.

TIE the pork roast if you wish. GIVE it a uniform coating of salt and then DUST the whole thing with the pepper and coriander.

COAT the bottom of a Dutch oven or other covered roasting pan with oil and PLACE it over high heat. When the oil is ripplingly hot, SEAR all sides of the pork so you have a nice golden brown surface. Take your time.

REMOVE the pork and wipe out the interior of the roasting vessel. MELT half of the butter over medium-high heat in the roasting vessel. As it begins to melt, ADD the onion, carrots, and garlic. GIVE them 2 four-finger pinches of salt and COOK, stirring, until the onions are soft and translucent, 10 to 15 minutes. ADD the tomato paste and continue to COOK and stir until the tomato paste is hot and coats the vegetables. ADD the remaining butter and the thyme and STIR. PUT the roast on top of the vegetables, COVER the vessel, and PUT it in the oven until the pork reaches an internal temperature of 140°F/60°C to 160°F/70°C.