Pennsylvania Dutch pork and sauerkraut with pork shoulder

Ingredients

• 2.2 kg skin-on pork shoulder (picnic shoulder)
• 1200 g raw plain lacto-fermented sauerkraut
• 2 pieces yellow onion
• 2 pieces Boskoop apple
• 800 g waxy new potatoes
• 4 cloves garlic clove
• 2 tbsp unrefined brown cane sugar
• 1 tbsp caraway seeds
• 2 leaves dried bay leaf
• 2 tbsp farm-style pork lard
• 500 ml unsalted chicken broth
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
• 1 tsp fine salt

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160 °C convection.
2. Carefully pat the skin-on pork shoulder (picnic shoulder) dry with paper towels, then lightly score the skin in a diamond pattern without cutting into the meat and rub the entire surface with the fine salt.
3. Melt the farm-style pork lard in a large cast-iron Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the pork shoulder and sear on each side for about ten minutes, until a beautiful golden crust forms, then set aside on a plate.
4. Reduce the heat to medium, add the sliced yellow onions to the hot fat and sweat them for five to six minutes, stirring regularly with a wooden spatula, until they are tender and slightly translucent.
5. Stir in the crushed garlic cloves, caraway seeds and unrefined brown cane sugar. Mix for one minute to release the aromas well without burning the sugar.
6. Briefly rinse the raw plain lacto-fermented sauerkraut under a stream of cool water to mellow its acidity, then press it firmly between your hands to remove the excess water.
7. Spread a first layer of the squeezed sauerkraut in the bottom of the Dutch oven over the onions. Add the peeled and thickly quartered Boskoop apples, the dried bay leaves and the crushed black peppercorns.
8. Place the browned pork shoulder in the center of the Dutch oven, then cover it with the remaining sauerkraut.
9. Pour the unsalted chicken broth around the sides of the Dutch oven to deglaze the cooking liquid without rinsing the meat. Bring to a simmer over high heat.
10. Cover tightly with the lid and bake on the middle rack for two hours.
11. Carefully remove the Dutch oven, arrange the washed waxy new potatoes all around the meat, tucking them into the sauerkraut, then replace the lid and continue baking for forty-five minutes, until the meat shreds easily and the potatoes are perfectly tender.
12. Let the covered Dutch oven rest for ten minutes out of the oven to relax the meat. Cut the meat into generous pieces or shred it, then serve on a steaming bed of sauerkraut and potatoes napped with the cooking juices.

Nutrition

Per serving

Energy

702.1 kcal

Protein

54.32 g

Carbohydrate

25.58 g

Fat

41.95 g

Fibre

4.66 g

Calcium

25.33 mg

Iron

1 mg

Magnesium

6.07 mg