Spoiler alert: If you come over to our house for dinner any time between now and the first day of spring, there’s about a 90% chance we’re going to cook this for you. The pork shoulder ragu you see above is our new obsession. It’s the ideal dish for Sunday dinner, or even better, an informal winter dinner party: It’s warm, it’s hearty, it smells insanely good, it goes well with red wine, and my God, is it tasty. But none of those are the main reason we’re so obsessed with this right now — no, the best part of this one is that, once the guests arrive, your work is already done. All the prep — what little of it there was — is four hours ago, a distant memory. Which is increasingly the way we like it. It seems like the older we get, and the more cooking we do, the simpler we want our entertaining to be. For sure, there was a day when we would have spent the afternoon, Martha-style, frantically scooping out little cucumber cups with a mellon-baller and filling them with creme fraiche and topping them with smoked salmon and dainty sprigs of dill, when we would have been stirring (and stirring) risotto and mandolining three different kinds of potatoes and being distracted, instead of hanging out with our guests. But then kids happened, and our tastes changed, and those days are gone. These days, I love nothing more than a one-pot meal — I am a braising machine! — and this really basic pork ragu over pasta is where our heads are at right now. It’s an instant party: you just take it out of the oven, shred the pork, boil some pasta, and you’re done. If the kids don’t like pork, they can eat the pasta; if they do like pork, then I love them, and there’s still plenty for everybody. Though I should add that, as good as this is on a cold winter night, it’s even better for lunch the next day. If it weren’t for a little thing known as coronary heart disease, I would eat this every day for the rest of my life. –Andy
Pork Shoulder Ragu
Because this is pork, it goes well with a salad that has a little sweetness to help cut the porkiness. (That’s Jenny’s word.) Greens with pear, blue cheese, and pine nuts? Greens with pistachios and pomegranates? Either would be good with our standard vinaigrette.
Also, this serves about six normal-size people. If you are cooking for more than that, cook another pound of pasta, up the meat to 3 pounds, and add few more tomatoes, and another 1/2 cup of red wine. Like the other braised pork recipe we ran recently, it’s nearly impossible to get wrong, so don’t get too hung up on the exactness of measurements. But if you use 3 pounds of pork and keep the liquid at a third of the way up the meat, that will be enough to feed four parents and four kids. With leftovers.
2 to 2 1/2-pound boneless pork shoulder roast
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small pat butter
1 large can whole tomatoes, with juice
1 cup red wine
5 sprigs fresh thyme
5 sprigs fresh oregano
Small handful of fennel seeds
1 tablespoon hot sauce, for smokiness (I used Trader Joe’s Hot Chili Sauce)
Pappardelle
Freshly grated Parmesean
Preheat oven to 325°F. Liberally salt and pepper the pork roast. Add olive oil and butter to large Dutch oven and heat over medium-high until butter melts, but does not burn. Add pork roast to pan and brown on all sides, about 8-10 minutes in all. Add tomatoes, wine, thyme, oregano, and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Cover, and put in oven. Braise for 3-4 hours, turning every hour or so. Add more liquid (water, wine, or tomato sauce) if needed. (The liquid should come to about 1/3 of the way up the pork.) Meat is done when it’s practically falling apart. Put on a cutting board and pull it apart with two forks, then add back to pot and stir. Cook 1 to 2 pounds pasta according to package directions. When it’s is ready, put into individual bowls and top with ragu and lots of Parm.
46 responses so far ↓
1 Nancy // Jan 24, 2011 at 10:09 am
This looks like a perfect recipe for the crock pot!
2 Sweet Tim // Jan 24, 2011 at 10:14 am
Hi, great site for foodies you have here! This recipe featured here reminds me of the Chinese stirfry pork with noodle. Never quite got to try it with pasta though. Perhaps now I should
Thanks for the share!
3 Trish O // Jan 24, 2011 at 11:34 am
You got me on Goes Well With Red Wine! Making this tonight. Off to get red wine.
4 Trish O // Jan 24, 2011 at 11:38 am
One question, if I skip the hot sauce do you think it would have enough flavor?
5 Tara // Jan 24, 2011 at 11:43 am
Sounds fabulous! And I had the same thought as Nancy above. It does sound like a great slow-cooker recipe. Any other readers have a clever conversion for how to shift this from the stove top to the crock pot? Would love to get this started on a Saturday morning and then when we get home from basketball, fencing, dance and a birthday party we could have a quick meal all but ready. I have a great fondness for obedient appliances that can work without supervision. But on the stovetop or in the crock pot, I’m trying this soon. Thanks!
6 Taylor // Jan 24, 2011 at 1:07 pm
This looks great! @Nancy and Tara: We often make pulled pork in the crock pot, using pork shoulder like this recipe does. It tends to take 6-8 hours on low. Thanks, Jenny & Andy!
7 Mendy // Jan 24, 2011 at 1:07 pm
I’ve been on the hunt for the perfect super bowl meal and this is it! Go Steelers!
8 Taylor // Jan 24, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Thanks for another great recipe, Jenny & Andy! @Nancy and Tara: We make pulled pork in the crockpot, using 3-4 lb pork shoulder, and it takes 6-8 hours on low. I would think this would be similar. Maybe be close to watch it the first time so you get the timing down, but it is virtually impossible to screw up. Good luck!
9 Nancy // Jan 24, 2011 at 1:47 pm
Trish O–instead of hot sauce, you might add a drop or two of liquid smoke.
10 Alyssa // Jan 24, 2011 at 2:46 pm
I am totally with you on loving simple “make ahead” meals for guests. I used to feel this need to impress guests with my cooking prowess, but I would end up totally stressed out, sweating, swearing, and depleted by the time the food was on the table. I love making something simple (but delicious) that will allow me to enjoy some wine with my guests and relax instead of distractedly chitchatting while I saute and chop. I will definitely try this out next time someone comes over!
11 Trish O // Jan 24, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Thanks Nancy. That is a great idea.
12 Amy // Jan 24, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Yum! I’m starting to think about which family we’ll now invite over Saturday night! Which means we’ll have yummy leftovers for Sunday lunch — hmmm, maybe pork tacos!
13 Andrea // Jan 25, 2011 at 5:56 pm
I would much rather crock pot then leave the oven on for a few hrs… how long do you think it would take in the crock 3 hrs on high? 6 on low? something in the middle?
I did your other braised pork (the pomegranate one) in the crock last week for 4 hrs on low and it was a little dry for me (so now I am asking your opinion instead of me guessing)… REGARDLESS the sauce was amazing!! Thank you!!
14 Jenny // Jan 25, 2011 at 6:42 pm
Andrea – I’m such a novice in the world of slow-cookers. (I do not own one.) So I leave it to my readers to respond to this. As always, though, if you are doing it in a dutch oven, the liquid level should be monitored carefully so it is always about a third of the way up the pork. Let me know how it turns out!
15 Gretchen // Jan 28, 2011 at 3:45 pm
This sounds so good! Is there a leaner cut of pork that could be used instead of the pork shoulder? Thanks!
16 Jess // Jan 30, 2011 at 10:09 am
omg, this was delicious. Thanks, Jenny and Andy, for a great recipe. i can’t wait for people to come over so i can try it again.
17 jodi // Jan 30, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Do the fennel seeds go in with the herbs, wine, etc? Am I losing my mind?
Thanks!
18 Clare // Jan 30, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Cooked this tonight – my husband said it was the best thing I’d cooked in a year!!
And the kids really did love it.
19 jodi // Jan 30, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Forget my question about the fennel seeds (I ended up putting them in with the rest of the stuff). This dish was amazing. Haven’t done the dishes yet — needed to write to you and thank you! A great cozy winter meal on a Sunday night. It’s a keeper!
20 andy // Jan 30, 2011 at 8:14 pm
Love it! Rock on, readers of DALS!
21 buzzkehl // Jan 30, 2011 at 10:02 pm
this was delish! Love the way the whole house smelled from the very beginning of cooking time. Thanks for this simple, flavorful dish.
22 Trese // Jan 31, 2011 at 10:30 am
Made this on Sunday, when we had friends come over for the Duke game. Duke lost, but I won with this dinner. Hubs was a skeptic, but he ended up loving it. The meat was SUPER tender. Everyone liked it, except my 13 year old son, who said it was “so-so,” which actually means, “it was great, make it again.”
23 Paula // Feb 1, 2011 at 8:18 pm
Intended to make this on Sunday but made it today on Snowday instead. We LOVED it. And husband Jaked it up around 3 today, deciding cocktail hour on a snow day should be the same as when visiting the tropics. Gotta love midafternoon Manhattans.
24 Matt // Feb 1, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Just to followup on cooking this in the crock pot, I tried this today and it was yummy! I braised the pork in a skillet, deglazed with the wine and threw everything in the crock pot. I set it for 9 hours on low because that’s when dinner was, but I am sure 4 or so would be fine. Made for a wonderful, easy mid-week meal to fix in the morning and come home to after a long day at work!
25 molly // Feb 2, 2011 at 10:41 am
we made this last night — correction, my husband made it with some email and phone call direction from me. very yummy meal for a cold night. ours was overly juicy, though. I think our pork was super fatty and rendered down a lot, which made the sauce very greasy. next time I’ll have him trim the meat more I guess! any other ideas to thicken it up?
26 Anne // Feb 2, 2011 at 4:47 pm
I made this last Sunday and it was great! The smell was amazing; the fennel added so much flavor. I used the left overs as a base for taco soup during the week which turned out great as well.
27 heidi // Feb 6, 2011 at 1:45 pm
making it for the Super Bowl as I type…..
28 Stevi // Feb 7, 2011 at 7:54 pm
This was fabulous. Super bowl dinner party. I served with sauteed spinach. The kids loved it, too!! The taste is much more complex than the ease of preparation. Thanks so much!!!!!
29 Emily // Feb 9, 2011 at 1:53 pm
I made this last night for my mom and we loved it! First recipe from your site – boy, you guys passed the test with flying colors! I totally forgot to put in the fennel but it turned out great anyways. I’m a fairly inexperienced cook, with especially little experience in cooking meat, so this was a huge confidence booster for me. I’ll be making it again and again! Thanks!
30 Chris // Feb 11, 2011 at 7:55 am
Never cooked pork shoulder before and am a braising novice. Do you take the skin off the pork before browning? Thanks! Can’t wait to try!
31 Nicolette // Feb 14, 2011 at 1:19 pm
Made this as a special Valentine’s dinner for my boyfriend. His socks were knocked off. So much so I think you needed a telescope to see them. Amazing recipe! Pork came out like BUTTAH. And it was easy to make!
32 Catherine // Feb 16, 2011 at 10:58 pm
This was FANTASTIC, and a beautiful use of my Le Creuset. The pappardelle is key – don’t even think of substituting it.
LOVE <3 <3 <3
33 Courtney // Mar 6, 2011 at 8:04 am
This was AMAZING! What a wonderful recipe – it feeds a lot, is cost effective, and tastes out of this world. Thanks for this great idea. I’ve been passing it onto friends!
34 Recipe of the Week: Pork Shoulder Ragu from Dinner: A Love Story « Shiny Brite // Mar 9, 2011 at 1:54 pm
[...] is more snow coming? please, God, no — which means we’ll definitely be making this Pork Ragu with Pappardelle from Dinner: A Love Story at least one more time before temps turn warmer. It’s easy (hello, [...]
35 Dwight // Apr 21, 2011 at 7:50 pm
My experience with crock pots, which is alot, is that for crock pots you need a lot less liquid. Its a sealed environment so the mositure doesn’t escape the way it will braising in the oven. So I would still brown it. Put the results of that in the crock pot, use diced instead whole tomatoes and cut the wine to 1/2 a cup. It will probably take 6 -8 hours on low.
36 Claudine Campbell // May 2, 2011 at 2:16 pm
WOW!!! This was outstanding!!! We ate it for dinner last night, I had it for lunch today and I can barely wait to get home and make some 10 minute tortellini! A+ thanks for the great recipe!
37 Clare // Jul 16, 2011 at 2:33 pm
This looks delicious! Is there any other meat that would work as a substitute for pork in this recipe?
38 Joanna // Oct 12, 2011 at 4:53 pm
“I read your newsletter. Do I win the Inmod Teak Bowl?”
This recipe sounds delicious!
39 Joan // Oct 14, 2011 at 6:11 pm
AMAZING! Thank you!
I read your newsletter. Do I win the Inmod Teak Bowl?
40 Courtney // Nov 5, 2011 at 9:10 pm
Awesome recipe! I just made this tonight and it was super simple, delicious, and and did I mention just how fabulous this is? I used one-half the oil; two tablespoons is too much, I think. Either way, this is one of my new favorites. Thanks for posting this!
41 Heidi // Jan 26, 2012 at 11:50 am
I made this. It made the whole house smell amazing and it looked delicious — but it was really bland. Anyone else have this problem? What did I do wrong?? Should I try upping the amount of hot sauce?
42 bergamot // Jan 26, 2012 at 9:57 pm
This was delicious and so easy. It’s far more flavourful than you’d expect, given how simple the ingredients are. Thanks! I’ll definitely be making it again (and again and again… you get the idea).
43 Emily // Jan 31, 2012 at 12:24 am
This is hands down the best pork shoulder recipe I’ve stumbled upon. I’ve made it 5 times since Thanksgiving and given the recipe to 3.
Diners thought I was brilliant and I basked in the praise, though I eventually pointed them to DALS.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
44 Mark // Mar 25, 2012 at 12:28 pm
So I should probably have sought clarification before this was in the oven, but… How much is “1 small pat” of butter? A knob? A stick? Somewhere in between? I went with a stick (as an ex-pat Brit, a pat of butter weighs a pound, so a small pat must be a stick, right?) but it did seem like quite a lot…
Love the blog.
45 Jenny // Mar 25, 2012 at 1:50 pm
Mark — Oh boy. So sorry about that. I think of a “pat” as a tablespoon or so. Wow that must have been a rich ragu!
46 Mark // Mar 25, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Thanks Jenny, I’ll keep that in mind when I see it in other recipes.
I’ve just turned the meat over for its fourth hour following a brief interlude with a gravy separator
Tastes fantastic, I’m looking forward to having it for dinner tonight (over un-buttered pasta!).
Leave a Comment