Cooking Notes

[colomon]

What I learned today: Just throwing the pork in the crock pot with some chardonnay is clearly inferior to browning the pork in oil that has just cooked some onions and then adding cider to the pot. Next time, I will know better, though whether I will have the time and cider needed to do it properly is not clear. (Possible future avenues of

Comments

[aular]

Browning is *very* important - that's where most of your flavor comes from in a braised meat. And adding hard cider would be yummy. Alcohol has a lower boil point than water, so you can concentrate the flavors easier if you use something with an alcholic content to it. That, and alcohol (according to this site: http://www.chefsclasses.com/science/AlcoholScience1.html) interacts with fats well to enhance flavor. Pork & apple pair well together, so adding hard cider would work well.

I'd recommend:
Adding oil to deep pot. Brown pork on all sides for at least a few minutes on high/med high heat. Add onions, scrapping pan as onions saute and carmelize (start on high until translucent, reduce to medium or medium-low until light brown). Add liquid (water &/or water & hard cider). Soak and bring to simmer; cook until meat is done. If you're doing it in a crockpot, I'd think High is fine since High Crockpot isn't High Stovetop. If you cook too high, you risk scorching the outside and making it overdone compared to the middle, which would be bad.