Grilled Pork Confit
From the show Bittman Takes on America's Chefs
Chef: Suzanne Goin
http://www.howtocookeverything.tv/htce/TakeOnTheRecipes/detail/recipeId-21.html

Makes: 6 to 8 Servings
Time: 3 days, largely unattended

This was very tastey, and wouldn't be the same without the final
grilling which develops an excellent crust.  Problem was the meat was
overcooked in the confit process, which caused it to fall apart when
slicing for the grill; we had to cook it on a slotted vegetable rack.
Next time cook it a lot less in the confit -- it was bubbling pretty
vigorously, maybe it should just barely simmer.  We deboned the meat
and might want to truss it next time to help it hold together.

I'm not convinced brining with spices and herbs will add much to the
flavor: these flavorful oils are not water-soluable so suspect their
flavors won't get into the meat.  We need to do an experiment to test
this.

We didn't have enough fat around the house, so bought a few tubs of
lard to augment our duck fat.  After confit and chilling, we melted
the fat on the cooktop to free the meat, rather than in the oven.

Original recipe follows...


And as long as you have space and time, it's not a particularly
difficult dish to prepare. Just make sure you have a container large
enough to brine a pork shoulder in, enough room in the fridge to store
it while it's curing, and enough fat to submerge it in. None of these
are insurmountable problems; you just need to do a bit of planning to
make it happen. (Or, you could cut the recipe in half.) If you don't
have a grill, don't let that stop you: Just sear the meat in a
cast-iron pan with a few tablespoons of the fat left over from making
the confit.

This is great served with Knepfla and Sauteed Cabbage.

1/4 cup juniper berries
1/4 cup allspice berries
1/2 cup fennel seed
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup salt
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 bulb fennel, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1/4 bunch fresh thyme
1/4 bunch fresh parsley
3 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 dried chiles
Half a boneless pork shoulder, 2 1/2 to 3 pounds, trimmed of excess fat
2 to 3 quarts rendered duck or pork fat (see sidebar)
Mustard Butter (page 245)

1.  Lightly crush the juniper, allspice, and fennel in a mortar and
    pestle or with the back of a heavy pan (if you use a spice
    grinder, be sure to keep it coarse). Dissolve the sugar and salt
    in 2 cups hot water in a stockpot or plastic container large
    enough to accommodate the pork shoulder (and make a space in your
    refrigerator large enough to fit the stockpot). Add 2 cups cool
    water, and then stir in the onion, fennel, carrot, thyme, parsley,
    cloves, bay leaves, and chiles. Add the pork shoulder and enough
    water to cover the meat. Brine the pork in the refrigerator for 48
    hours.

2.  Remove the pork from the brine, pat it dry and clean with paper
    towels, and let it sit while you heat the fat; discard the
    brine. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Warm the fat gently in a large
    deep pan (if you used a stockpot for brining, that would work)
    over low to medium heat until it liquefies. Submerge the brined
    pork shoulder in the fat and transfer the pan to the oven. Cook 4
    to 5 hours, until very tender (a paring knife inserted in the
    center of the meat should meet little resistance).

3.  Cool the pork in the fat for 1 hour. (At this point you could
    transfer the shoulder, submerged in fat, to the refrigerator for
    up to 5 days. Before you grill the shoulder, transfer the pan from
    the fridge to a 250 degree F oven for 1 hour or so to re-liquefy the fat,
    then proceed.) Remove the shoulder from the fat and transfer it to
    a cutting board (strain the fat and refrigerate or freeze until
    the next time you make confit).

4.  Start your grill; the fire should be moderately hot (you should be
    able to hold your hand over the hottest part for 4 or 5 seconds)
    and the grill rack about 4 inches from the heat source.

5.  Slice the pork into 1/2- to 3/4-inch-thick slabs across the grain
    of the meat (save the scraps to make great sandwiches or to
    saute with eggs). Taste a little piece of the pork to make sure
    it is seasoned correctly. If not, add some salt and pepper. Brush
    the slabs with a little melted fat or olive oil and grill for 2 to
    3 minutes on the first side (turning them 90 degrees after a
    couple of minutes if you want to serve them with crosshatched
    grill marks). Turn the pork over and finish cooking for 1 minute
    more on the other side. You should have a really crisp,
    deep-golden crust. Smear each piece of grilled pork with a
    generous tablespoon of Mustard Butter and serve immediately.
 

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