Braised Pork Ingredients
3-4 pounds of pork shoulder
1.5 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons of butter, divided
2 tablespoons of olive oil, divided
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1.5 pounds of parsnips, sliced into bite-sized chunks
10 medium-sized shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 large yellow onion, diced roughly
2 celery stalks, chopped finely
1 tablespoon of flour
1.5 cups of hard cider (I used a local favorite, Reverend Nat’s)
2 cups of beef stock
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon of dried thyme

Braised Pork Method: Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the dutch oven. While dutch oven is heating, pat pork shoulder dry on all sides and season with salt and pepper. Add it to the dutch oven and brown on all sides. Work in batches and be careful not to overcrowd the meat. Once browned nicely on all sides, remove the pork and set aside on a plate. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Add garlic, parsnips, mushrooms, onion, and celery to the dutch oven. (You will likely have to work in batches as you don’t want to steam the veggies by putting too many in at once.) Cook over medium heat until parsnips are turning golden brown on the sides and the other veggies have begun to wilt, about 10 minutes. If it looks like they’re starting to dry out, add the remaining butter and olive oil. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of flour over the sautéed veggies and toss to coat. Return the pork to the dutch oven. Add cider, beef stock, and herbs to the dutch oven, making sure the liquid covers (or nearly covers) the meat. Cover with a lid and place in preheated oven to cook for 3 hours, turning meat once halfway through. While pork is in oven, begin work on the galette dough (see recipe below.) Once the meat and vegetables are finished cooking, remove from the oven. Pull pork from the dutch oven and slice into bite sized pieces. Meanwhile, if the liquid in the dutch oven has not thickened, spend 5-10 minutes reducing it over medium heat until it is thick enough to coat a spoon. Return meat to vegetable mixture.

Galette Dough Ingredients:

2.5 cups of all purpose flour
½ teaspoon of sea salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) of frozen butter
½ cup of heavy cream
½ cup of ice water

Galette Dough Method: Blend the flour and salt in a large bowl. Using a microplane, grate the frozen butter over the top of the flour and use your hands to work it into the flour until it begins to look coarse. In a small bowl, mix together the cream and water and immediately (since water is cold) add to the flour mixture. Using your hands, mix the liquid into the flour/butter mixture until you begin to see large lumps forming. If it is too sticky, add more flour, 1 tablespoon at a time until dough is no longer sticky. Pull pieces together into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and let chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 24 hours. Remove from the refrigerator and separate into 8 pieces. Roll out the dough into thin circles that are about 6-8” in diameter and lay flat on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Add several spoonfuls of the pork to the center of the galette, leaving about 2 inches around the sides. Fold up the sides, pinching to seal as you go, to encase the pork in the dough. Beat 2 egg yolks with ¼ cup of water. Brush galette dough with beaten egg and water mixture and bake at 400 degrees F for 35-40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.