Braised pork shoulder

Picture of braised pork shoulder

It's time to do some braising with our almighty Staub cast iron pot!

TQ is so tired of my cooking with root beer (I'd love to use coke but it's caffeinated) so I try to come out w/ different sauce for braising pork shoulder. Unlike many other recipes, mine doesn't call for (lots of) vinegar.

Ingredients:
Pork shoulder (2 lb this time), onions, green onions, garlic, chives (for garnish), wine, rice vinegar, Chinese fermented black bean sauce, sugar, sesame oil, olive oil

Process:

• Heat the pot with sesame oil and olive oil
• Brown all sides of pork shoulder. Remove the meat from the pot to rest.
• Sautee onions, garlic and green onions in the same pot, deglaze with cooking wine and rice vinegar. Scrap gently to get all the goodies off the pot.
• Meat back to the pot, pour in the sauce mix (which is composed of wine, rice vinegar, Chinese fermented black bean sauce, sugar, sesame oil), cover the lid. Cook in the oven at 325F for 2 hours or until the meat is cooked thoroughly and tender.
• Garnish with chives and serve

Notes:

• The meat should be able to be separated by a fork with little resistance
• Lots of onions & garlic to boost up the flavor
• Taste the sauce mix before you add in. With a tight lid the liquid shouldn't reduce much
• There's probably no need to caramelize the onions since they will be after 2 hours of cooking
• I'll add more liquid last time, maybe 1" in the pot to begin. It was too dry when it first came out of oven. I had to remove the meat then "thin" the sauce with a bit of water.

Final verdict:
It is unanimous: DO IT AGAIN!