Braised Pork Neck (or Chops)

This recipe is great for a couple different cuts of meat! If you have a hog share or know a local farmer (I met mine at the farmer’s market!) who sells many different cuts, I recommend trying this recipe with neck bones! Neck bones?  Really?  Yes!  Not only are they extremely cheap (some butchers/meat farmers will even give them to you for free), but when cooked low and slow, they are tender and very flavorful.  If you can’t find neck, it’s equally delicious with some bone-in pork chops

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hr 45 min

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 3 lbs pork neck bones (or 4 pork bone-in pork chops)
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 6 medium carrots
• 2 apples (rome beauty, fuji, granny smith or mutsu/crispin)
• 4-5 slices of fresh ginger (about 1” diameter)
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp fennel seed
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2-4 Tbsp lard, tallow or extra virgin coconut oil

1. Preheat oven to 300F.
2. Cut carrots into large 2” chunks.  Cut onion in half and then cut each half into four wedges.  Peel and core apples and cut into large 1” chunks (I got a dozen pieces per apple).
3. Grind fennel seed in a spice grinder or Magic Bullet.  Combine with nutmeg, cinnamon and salt.  Rub over pork to thoroughly coat.
4. Heat 2 Tbsp cooking fat over medium-high heat in a small stock pot or extra-large oven-safe frying pan (if you have a Le Creucet, even better!).  Add ginger slices and cook 3-4 minutes until browned and fragrant.  Remove ginger (unless you love big ginger chunks).
5. Add pork to oil and brown on all sides (you may have to do this in 2 or 3 batches), adding more cooking fat if needed.  Remove browned pork from pan and set aside.
6. Add onion and carrots to pan and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more cooking fat if needed.  Add pork back to pot (nudging pork in between carrots and onion).  Add wine to pot.  Add apple to the top.
7. Cover and place in the oven and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes (add an extra 15 minutes if you are using pork chops instead).
8. Enjoy!