Food Issue - Recipe: Slow-Roasted Berkshire Pork Shoulder with Skillet-Fried Turnips, Apples and Potato Cider Butter

Pork shoulder

2 lbs. boneless pork shoulder roast, trussed

Salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Turnips and apples

1 bunch baby hakeuri turnips with greens

2 local apples (preferably sun crisp, Fuji, or gala)

1/4 cup hickory smoked bacon

Hot pepper vinegar

Salt

Unsalted butter

Honey

Potato cider butter

1 lb. potatoes

1 quart heavy cream

1 cup apple cider

Salt

Apple cider vinegar

1/2 lb. unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

• Begin by seasoning boneless pork shoulder liberally with salt. Let sit overnight in the cooler.

• Remove roast from the cooler at least 1 hour prior to cooking and let it come to room temperature.

• Preheat oven to 500 F. Place pork roast in a heavy-bottomed sauté pan with a tablespoon butter and put in the oven on the middle rack. Cut oven down to 400 and allow the pork to roast for at least 10 minutes or until the bottom is caramelized.

• Flip the roast, baste with the butter in the pan and let roast until internal temperature reaches 155 F.

• Baste again and remove the meat to a rack set over a sheet pan. Loosely cover in foil and let rest for at least 20 minutes.

Turnips and apples

• Peel turnips, trim greens (set aside for later) and place in a small pot of cold water. Add a pinch of salt and bring to a boil. When the water boils, remove the turnips and let them cool on a plate in the fridge.

• When cool, cut in half or quarters so turnips are approximately the same size. Chop the turnip greens into 1/4 inch pieces and set aside.

• Peel apples and cut into wedges the approximate size of the turnips. Toss apples in a small bowl with a tablespoon of honey, completely coating them.

• In a heavy-bottomed sauté pan, render off bacon until extremely crispy and as much fat as possible has been removed. Strain out bacon and reserve for another use.

• Add to pan of bacon fat a teaspoon of whole butter. Allow the mixture to foam and add the turnips and apples to the pan. Cook, stirring periodically until deeply caramelized.

• Allow the mixture to cool slightly and pour off the fat from the pan. Add the turnip greens to the pan and wilt lightly in the pan. Season with salt and a small splash of pepper vinegar. Keep warm.

Potato cider butter

• Peel potatoes and slice into 1/4 inch rounds. Place into a small saucepan and allow for an inch or so of room at the top.

• Pour in heavy cream and completely cover the potatoes. Add a pinch of salt and simmer covered until the potatoes are very tender.

• Uncover and reduce the cream until thick. Allow mixture to cool and puree with a hand-held immersion blender until very smooth. Add enough apple cider to thin the mixture out to the thickness of pancake batter.

• Add butter a piece at a time while blending until it is all incorporated. Adjust thickness of the sauce with more cider until it reaches the consistency of a standard pancake batter. Reseason with salt and add a splash of cider vinegar.

• To assemble, slice pork against the grain into medallions and season with a pinch of salt and a splash of pepper vinegar. Warm dinner plates lightly and spoon a 3-inch circle of potato butter down on plate.

• Remove turnip apple mixture on to a paper towel lined plate. Allow some of the liquid to be absorbed and divide evenly between all dinner plates, on top of the potato butter. Top each with a medallion of pork and serve.

Pork from Gum Creek Farms in Roopville. Butter and cream from Sparkman’s Cream Valley in Moultrie. Turnips and greens from Crystal Organics in Newborn. Apples, cider, and subsequent vinegars made from cider from a variety of North Georgia orchards. Honey is sourwood honey from a roadside stand in North Georgia. Potatoes from Flat Creek Lodge in Swainsboro. Pepper vinegar from hot Vietnamese peppers purchased from Cook Family Farm out of Clermont, mixed with apple cider vinegar from the previously referred to cider, Vidalia onion and salt.