In the making of a New Year Eve's Dinner

Braised Spicy Pork Shoulder in Tomatoes Stew

Serving: 2

Utensils: 

All-Clad saucepan (or any kind of pan that you can put into the oven for at least 4 hours in 350 F) 

Ingredient: 

Cooking oil (1 tbsp for browning the onion, carrots and garlic. You do not need oil for browning the pork because of its own fat)

Pork Shoulder approximately 1 pound (3 fist sized pork shoulder) 

Baby carrots/regular carrots  (a handful) 

Jumbo yellow onion (half, chopped them into medium pieces) 

Garlic (2 cloves, coarsely chopped)

Italian herbs (1 tsp)

Salt and pepper (2 tbsp approximately) 

Spicy hot pot sauce (1tbsp) [I used Ning Chi 寜記麻辣火鍋醬]

Honey (1 tbsp) 

Nutmeg (1 tsp) 

Canned Tomatoes (1/2 can)  

Chicken stock (1/2 cup) 

Water (1 cup) 

Red pepper flakes (1tbsp) 

Method: 

1. Marinate pork shoulders over night with salt and pepper, spicy hot pot sauce, honey, nutmeg, chicken stock and water. Put them in the fridge.

2. Take them out the next day 30 mins prior to cooking and let them sit at room temperature. Preheat oven at 350 F.

3. Dice onions into pieces. Brown them with cooking oil. Add in carrots and garlic after 8 minutes.

Keep an eye on them and turn off the the heat when they are browned. Don't skip this process as it will enhance the color and flavor of vegetables.

Carrots and onions are slightly browned. 

4. Put the carrots, garlic and onions aside on a plate. In the same pan or another pan, put in the pork shoulders. No extra cooking oil needed. Brown the pork shoulders in medium heat. 

5. Then, combine the carrots and onions with the pork shoulders. Pour in the marinates and tomatoes, and let it cook on the stove until you see it becomes slightly boil.

They should smell fantastic at this point! At least Honey K said so. 

More is better than less for this dish as after long hours of cooking, the water level will decrease. 

6. Cover the pan with a piece of aluminum foil and put it in the preheated oven for 4 hours or until it is tender. 

7. Lower the heat to 200F if it is cooked prior to dinner time to keep it warm.

Ready to serve with rice!

The pork shoulder is very tender after long hours of cooking. If you don't want it to be spicy, just skip the spicy hotpot sauce. You will love this dish!