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This recipe is from Martha Stewart’s new Cooking School book.  I made it last night, and it was YUMMERIFIC!

The recipe was featured on Martha’s TV show, where she and co-author Sarah Carey do a weekly Cooking School segment, based on recipes from the book.  You can see the recipe and video from the show HERE.  For a slower connection, or if you don’t want to see the video (it auto-plays, but you can shut it off), a printable version of the recipe is HERE.

I made the recipe almost as instructed…the main difference was that I was unable to find a three-pound pork shoulder roast.  The smallest one I found was about six pounds, and it was labeled as a pork shoulder picnic roast, bone-in.  It also had a lot of pork skin on it, which would be wicked awesome if you were oven roasting it, or better yet, slow-cooking it on a barbecue.  But for this recipe, the skin would just get all icky and gummy, so if your roast comes with skin on, take a few minutes to remove it.

I did not increase the amounts of the liquid and vegetables, however.  The amounts given in the recipe worked well, even with the larger piece of meat.  The only thing I adjusted was the cooking time; rather than 2-2 1/2 hours, I let it go for three hours.  For the final braising with the garnish veggies, I did the half hour as specified.  It came out absolutely perfect!

Hard cider is sold in six-packs anywhere that beer is sold.  I used Woodchuck Hard Cider, the Granny Smith apple variety.  You will need three of the 12 ounce bottles for this recipe, the rest, I drank…LOL!  Honestly, the six-pack of cider cost more than the meat (which was just $1.49/pound, but it was well worth it.  If you do not wish to use hard cider for whatever reasons, use 2 cups of regular apple cider, and chicken stock for the rest of the liquid.  It says this in the book; if you use too much regular cider, the sauce will be too sweet.

I also did not have any cheesecloth with which to make the sachet d’epice.  So I tied the herbs and peppercorns into one of the leek leaves that I was not using for the recipe, this adds flavor to the sauce.  Save all additional dark leek leaves for soups or stocks, you just use the white and pale green parts here.

I cooked this in my 7 quart cast iron Dutch oven, this worked really well for browning the meat, as well as for holding in the heat so that the roast cooked evenly.   Although this can be a great one-pot meal as is, I boiled up some egg noodles and served them with the pork, veggies, and the very tasty sauce.

Enjoy! :D