Salt-cured pork shank with Puy green lentils

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg salt-cured front pork shank
• 320 g Puy green lentils PDO
• 2 pieces fresh field-grown carrots
• 1 piece yellow onion
• 3 cloves garlic cloves
• 2 pieces whole cloves
• 1 piece tied fresh bouquet garni (thyme, bay leaf, flat-leaf parsley)
• 1 tsp Madagascar black peppercorns
• 20 g unsalted butter (82% fat content)
• 2.5 l filtered water
• 4 tbsp strong Dijon mustard

Method

1. Place the salt-cured front pork shank in a large bowl filled with cold water for 2 hours to soak out excess salt, changing the water after 1 hour.
2. Drain the pork shank and transfer it to a cast-iron Dutch oven. Cover with the cold filtered water, then heat over medium heat for about 15 minutes to bring the liquid to a gentle simmer around 95 °C (203 °F).
3. As soon as the first bubbles appear, carefully skim the surface for 5 minutes with a skimmer until the broth is clear and free of gray foam.
4. Peel the onion and stud it with the whole cloves. Peel one carrot and cut it into 3 cm (1-inch) chunks. Lightly crush the unpeeled garlic cloves. Add the studded onion, carrot chunks, garlic, bouquet garni, and black peppercorns to the broth, without adding salt.
5. Cover the Dutch oven, leaving a 1-centimeter (1/2-inch) crack open, lower the heat to maintain a poaching temperature between 85 °C and 90 °C (185 °F to 194 °F), then let simmer for 2 hours until the tip of a knife slides effortlessly into the skin and the meat reaches an internal temperature of at least 85 °C (185 °F).
6. Twenty minutes before the pork shank finishes cooking, peel the second carrot and finely dice it into a 3 mm (1/8-inch) brunoise. Melt the unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat (induction level 4/9) and sweat the diced carrot for 4 minutes without letting it brown.
7. Rinse the green lentils under cold water in a fine-mesh sieve, then add them to the saucepan with the sweated diced carrot.
8. Ladle some of the pork shank broth through a fine-mesh strainer and pour it over the lentils so they are submerged under 3 cm (1 1/4 inches) of liquid.
9. Cook the lentils at a gentle simmer (around 90 °C / 194 °F) for 25 to 30 minutes uncovered, adding a ladle of hot broth whenever the liquid level drops, until the lentils are tender to the core but intact.
10. Remove the pork shank from the broth, place it on a carving board, and let it rest for 5 minutes loosely tented with foil. Gently carve the meat into large pieces, discarding the central bone.
11. Ladle the piping hot lentils into shallow bowls, arrange the pork pieces on top, spoon a little warm broth over everything, and serve immediately with strong Dijon mustard.

Nutrition

Per serving

Energy

564.8 kcal

Protein

44.13 g

Carbohydrate

22.57 g

Fat

33.79 g

Fibre

8.19 g

Calcium

94.15 mg

Iron

5.91 mg

Magnesium

97.32 mg