A slow Italian braise where pork shoulder cooks for hours in milk with lemon peel, sage and bay until the sauce breaks into savoury golden curds.
Prep
20 mins
Cook
2h 30m
Servings
6
Per serving
£2.25
Difficulty
medium
Milk-braised pork looks alarming halfway through, when the milk splits into curds around the meat. That is exactly what should happen. Those curds reduce down into a nutty, lemon-scented sauce unlike anything else.
Pat the pork completely dry and season it all over with the salt and pepper. Let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Heat the oven to 150C fan. Warm the olive oil and butter in a heavy casserole just big enough to hold the joint, over a medium-high heat. Brown the pork on every surface, about 12 minutes in total, until deeply coloured.
Take your time here. This browning is where nearly all the depth of the finished sauce comes from, and a pale joint gives a pale, milky sauce.
Lift the pork out. Pour in the wine and let it bubble for two minutes, scraping the base of the pan clean.
Return the pork. Add the garlic cloves, lemon peel, bay, sage and thyme, then pour in the milk. It should come roughly two thirds of the way up the joint.
Bring just to a tremble on the hob, without letting it boil, then cover with the lid slightly ajar and transfer to the oven.
Cook for 2 hours, turning the joint every 40 minutes or so. The milk will separate into golden curds and a thin whey. This is correct and not a sign anything has gone wrong.
If it looks too dry at any point, add a splash of hot water. If it looks too loose near the end, finish the last stretch with the lid fully off.
Lift the pork onto a warm board, cover loosely with foil and rest it for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, fish out the bay, thyme stalks and lemon peel and set the casserole on the hob over a medium heat. Reduce the sauce for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring and crushing the soft garlic into it, until the curds are thick, nutty and pale gold.
Carve the pork thickly, spoon the curds and juices over, and serve with something plain to catch the sauce.