Ragout de porc, chasseur

 

Among my favorites of Julia Child's many cookbooks is From Julia Child's Kitchen. It is a more personal book than Mastering the Art of French Cooking, filled with personal anecdotes and her unqiue perspective on what makes for good food and good cooking. If you know her voice, you can hear it throughout. She teaches with the zeal of a revivalist preacher and she,long ago, converted me to the gospel of good food.  Here is some of her advice and counsel from her introduction.

"Learn how to cook! That's my invariable answer when I am asked to give forth  with money-saving recipes, economy tips, budget gourmet dinner menus for six people under ten dollars, and the like. Learn how to cook! That's the way to save money. You don't save it buying hamburger helpers, and prepared foods; you save it buying fresh foods in season or in large supply, when they are cheapest and usually best, and your prepare them from scratch at home. Why pay for someone else's work, when if you know how to do it, you can save all that money for yourself?"

This recipe uses a boneless shoulder of pork which we happened to have in the freezer. So, I felt doubly virtuous as I was cooking it. It is always satisfying to use provisions stored up for the winter. For some reason It makes me feel as if I have provided very well for the family.

BRAISED CUBED PORK WITH TOMATOES, HERBS, AND MUSHROOMS

(serves 6 people)

1. 2 1/2  boneless shoulder of pork, cut into cubes approximately 1 1/2 inches across
2. Dry Marinade
3. 2 or more tablespoons rendered pork fat, olive oil or peanut oil
4. 1 1/2 to 2 cups thinly sliced onions
5. 1/2 cup dry white wine or dry white French Vermouth
6. 3 to 4 ripe red tomatoes, peeled, seeded, juiced, and chopped
7. 2 cups fresh mushrooms
8. 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1 tablespoon butter for simmering the mushrooms
9. Salt and pepper as need
10. To thicken the sauce: 1 to 2 tablespoons cornstarch of potato starch blended with 2 tablespoons wine
11. 1/4 cup or more heavy cream or creme fraiche
12. Fresh minced parsely

 

For the Dry Marinade

• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/8 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme or Provencal seasoning
• 2 or 3 large cloves of garlic, pureed

Marinating the pork. This takes 20 minutes while you are assembling the rest of the ingredients or 1 to 2 days, if you wish. Place the pork in an enameled or stainless mixing bowl, add the marinade ingredients and stir vigorously with a rubber spatula to be sure all piece are well covered. Let stand, turning occasionally (or cover and refrigerate), until you are ready to begin cooking.

Browning the pork. If pork has exuded its juices during the marinade, dry in paper towels (reserve juices). Film a large frying pan or electric skillet with 1/16 inch of rendered fat or of oil, heat to very hot but not smoking, add as many pieces of pork as will fit comfortably in one layer, and brown lightly on all sides; remove browned pieces and add fresh pieces until all are browned. Tilt pan and spoon out browning fat. Stir in the sliced onions and toss with the pork for several minutes to brown lightly.  You may now transfer the meat and onions to a casserole to finish cooking. In this case, deglaze the frying pan with the wine--meaning, pour in wine and scrape into it all coagulated brown pan juices, and pour this into the casserole.

Braising the pork: 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Stir the tomatoes into the pork and onions, as well as any marinade juices, turning and tossing the meat to blend ingredients. Bring to the simmer, cover, and simmer slwoly either in a 325-degree over or on top of the stove Meat will exude juices as it cooks; turn and baste every 15 minutes or so. It will take 1 to 1/2 hours, depending on the cut and its initial tenderness, and it is done when a fork pierces it farily easily; do not overcook.

Stewed mushrooms. While pork is cooking, trim and wash mushrooms, quarter them and place in a small saucepan with the lemon juice, butter and a pinch of salt. Add 1/4 cup of water, cover pan and simmer 3 minutes. Pour the juices into the simmering pork and reserve the mushrooms for later.

Finishing the ragout. Skim any fat off of the accumulated cooking juices and you will probably want to thicken them unless they have reduced and thickened naturally. To do so, blend some of the hot juices into the starch and wine mixture, then pour this back into the ragout. Add the mushrooms, set over moderate heat and simmer, basting meat with juices, for several minutes until the sauce thickens and the starch cooks. Taste carefully for seasoning and then, still simmering, add the cream.

 

May be cooked ahead and slowly reheated for 5 minutes or so before serving.

Comments

[janet]

WOW, Anne. I love everything in this recipe, however me thinks I would starve waiting out the time it takes to prepare. So . . . if you ever put out this creation, ring me up, and I'll hop a plane to sample :))

[Anne Ritchings]

Hey Janet, the beauty of a recipe such as this is that you can make it a day or two ahead of when you want to serve it. It will taste even better.