I've written before about the beauty of braising a pork shoulder one day, then crafting several meals from it as the week wears on. This version is more basic than the Pork Braised with Chiles & Cinnamon, which means you can eat it even more ways. Seasoned with onions, garlic, salt, and pepper, the finished roast can be eaten as is with its rich pan juices. (Mmmashed potatoes would be a perfect accompaniment.)

Then the next day you can warm some of the pork with hoisin sauce and roll it in lettuce leaves with rice, scallions, pickled vegetables or kimchi, and a dab of chile sauce. Or ginger scallion sauce. Oh my goodness YES.

Then the next day you can warm some of the pork with barbecue sauce, and spoon it into a crusty roll with a caraway-seed studded coleslaw. You could slather ginger scallion sauce on this too, because seriously, that stuff belongs on everything.

Then for the last batch, you can fry the pork into a gloriously crispy hash along with potatoes, peppers, and onions, moistening it with pan juices as you go, topping it with a poached egg, but of course.

What are your ideas?

Basic Braised Pork Shoulder

1 boneless or bone-in pork shoulder (sizes can vary greatly)
Kosher salt
2 Tbsp. high heat vegetable oil or bacon fat
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, smashed & peeled
1 1/2 c. chicken broth or water
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Sprinkle pork shoulder on all sides with Kosher salt, rubbing it in a bit. Heat a Dutch oven (that can snugly hold the roast and has a fitted lid) over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the roast and brown thoroughly - to a deep golden brown - on that side. Flip the roast and brown thoroughly on the next side, continuing until all sides (including the ends) of the roast are evenly browned. Remove the roast to a plate and set aside.

With the pan still over heat, add the onions and garlic to the pan. Stir around for about 7-8 minutes, until vegetables are beginning to soften and look glassy. Add the chicken broth or water to the pan and top with the roast. Add a few turns of black pepper to the pan and bring liquid to a simmer. Cover pan and transfer to oven.

Bake for 3 hours, perhaps more, depending on the size of your shoulder. The pork is done when the meat is very, very tender and is easy to pull apart with a fork.

Transfer roast to a cutting board and let rest. Meanwhile, spoon fat from pan juices. Puree defatted pan juices with an immersion blender or by transferring to a stand-up blender (be careful when blending hot liquid). Return pan juices to the pan and season to taste.

Pull roast apart into bite-sized pieces, discarding any large pieces of fat, and stir into the pan juices. Serve immediately or cool to room temperature, cover and chill.

Burger maniacs (including myself), I have a proposition for you (us)...pork burgers! Why do we all not eat pork burgers? I'm not suggesting that beef burgers are anything but delectable, but I have been pondering - given the borderline gastronomic insanity over bacon, pork belly, and charcuterie - why the heck isn't a fabulously juicy, porky burger on every menu in this town?

I took my question to Karen Weiss of Little Foot Farm, host of this summer's Outstanding in the Field farm dinner. Weiss and her partner Sally Doherty raise heritage breed hogs on their picture-perfect farm for chefs like Lenny Russo of Heartland Restaurant and Mike Phillips of Three Sons Meat Co., but they also sell their highly-prized pork to the public, including ground Gloucester Old Spot (GOS) pork.

Weiss confessed that she's on a mission to convince Minnesotans that pork burgers deserve a spot on everyone's grill, particularly best-quality pork like she and Doherty raise, the kind that actually tastes like pork.

Pork!

After grilling a few batches myself, I can not agree more. Not that I thought I wouldn't agree - it's no secret that I'm a big, BIG pork fan - but holy cow my friends, the first batch of burgers I pulled off the grill were not savored, they were inhaled. I seasoned them with nothing more than salt and pepper so we could enjoy the clean, rich, pure pork flavor that Little Foot's tender loving care delivers. In a buttered, toasted bun, of course. Gah.

For round two pork play, I added cheddar cheese and tomato jam. Kablam. Future rounds might go breakfast-y with a fried egg and a crumble of bacon to gild the lily. Or Asian-style with scallions, ginger, and a splash of soy sauce. Or bratwurst-esque with caraway cheese and sauerkraut on a pretzel roll. Or even quicky barbecue, with a slathering of sauce topped with slaw before devouring. You get the picture - keep it simple, or go with classic-for-a-reason pork accompaniments. All paths lead to porktastic.

Go!

Tips for perfect, juicy burgers at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

To purchase Little Foot Farm pork, call 612.207.9771 or email customerservice@littlefootfarm.com.

After touring Little Foot Farm on Monday, site of the upcoming August 9, 2012, Outstanding in the Field dinner, host chefs Mike Phillips and Scott Pampuch moved on to butchery and making charcuterie from two of Little Foot's Gloucestershire Old Spot hogs.

With the help of chefs Steve Brennan and Ben Weaver, Mike Phillips demonstrated his craft, working quickly and precisely while teaching.

In case you think the work was all serious...um no. It turns out that chefs are hard-working dorks with very sharp knives.

No lie. Dick Sausage Stuffer. Premium awesomeness.

Ready to hang, cure, and return to the farm...as dinner.

Pickled ramps.

Chef Jeff Lakatos made us all a gorgeous lunch. Beef not pork!

Flat iron steak with green-garlic chimichurri, oyster mushrooms, and duck-fat roasted potatoes with asparagus. Every day, please!

Needless to say, there will be stunning charcuterie and fresh pork courses at the August 9 dinner. My thanks to Karen Weiss, Mike Phillips, and Scott Pampuch. I had a ridiculous blast going along for the ride, from petting piglets to hanging salumi. (Yeah, it was a euphemism-filled week, in the best possible way.)

It's a little bit ridiculous that I haven't posted about sopes before - I make and devour them several times a week. In fact, I'm a maniacal cornmeal cake fan in general. Chef Thomas Boemer had an insane version on Corner Table's menu a couple of weeks ago, with a bit of lard kneaded in, fried in butter, and topped with pork confit. Oh my word it was so good that I ordered another one to go to have for breakfast the next day.

You can do some pretty serious sope damage at Midtown Global Market as well. Taqueria Los Ocampo's version is a fabulously hot mess, loaded with tender chicken, melted cheese, lettuce, radishes, and sour cream. Add one of their fantastic salsas, alongside a large stack of napkins, and dig it like a day off.

The version I eat most often is the one I make at home. Nothing more than masa harina, a pinch of salt, and water kneaded together before being shaped and fried, they're the perfect delivery vehicle for pretty much whatever you have on hand: Guacamole, eggs any style, salad, cheese, beans, chorizo, tomatoes, pickled things, fried potatoes, on and deliciously on...

Recipe for Sopes at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

I saw this recipe this week for Sri Lankan rice flour-coconut milk pancakes. With yeast! I couldn't wait to make them.

They are ridiculously delicious, no surprise. Is anything made with coconut milk not amazing? The stuff blows my mind and palate, over and over and over again. Love.

Make sure to try the onion sambol as well. It's a breeze to whip together and packs a seriously killer flavor punch. I fried my egg separately which worked nicely.

If you're in a rush, don't forget about a different twist on rice flour-coconut milk pancakes, Vietnamese banh xeo. I made them tonight for a quick roll in the pork, as it were, given the six pounds of pork shoulder I braised in coconut milk yesterday. Oh my gosh...good.

Recipe for Sri Lankan Hoppers at Saveur Magazine.

In my excitement to braise something, anything over the past freezing weekend, I got a little carried away and bought an 8-pound boneless pork shoulder...

...for four people, one of whom (Nathan) is hardly ever home and one of whom (my mom) has barely an appetite.

But guess what? It's almost gone! I cut the roast in two, braised half, and grilled the other half long and slow. I served the braised half to our friend Marty, as well as Stacey and Cooper, for family dinner on Sunday night. I sliced the other half and gave some to Stacey, and made sandwiches for Mom and Nathan, and then nachos for Nathan, and about 50 snacks for myself...

And just like that, we'll finish off the last bit in some sort of hash tonight.

What am I trying to say? That I'm excessive in oh so many ways? No, although of course that's true. My point is that the versatility of braised meat is just endless! Braise on Sunday, with very little effort, and have several easy meals all week. It's cheap, delicious, and damn good fun.

The pic up top is the braised version, on polenta, with tomato jam, and finished with bits of crispy guanciale (cured pork jowl) gifted to me by my friend Joy Summers. She visited Mom and me last week and brought me the guanciale plus a pound of Hope Creamery butter. There is love.

Anyhow, the pork-polenta dish, inspired by my friend Molly Herrmann's stunning dish at the Tour de Farm Chicknic in July, blew minds all over this house.

Round II goes to the tacos. Crisp pork in a skillet, in its own fat (not exactly carnitas, but same effect, as in kill-me good), wrap in warm corn tortillas with your favorite taco garnishes. Yah.

Recipe for Braised Pork Shoulder with Chiles & Cinnamon at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Transform green beans into a spicy, salty meal. A little pork, a little black bean-garlic sauce...a lot of sticky-savory deliciousness. Recipe for Green Beans with Pork & Black Bean-Garlic Sauce at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.

Check out Jason Hicks' - executive chef at The Local - recipe for Fried (Green) Tomato BLTs at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.  Since green tomatoes aren't yet available in Minnesota, I substituted local hothouse tomatoes for a delicious result.

In fact, I fried up a batch of tomatoes again last night for din and topped them with the watercress tossed in bacon-maple vinaigrette from the Poached Egg, Crispy Pork Belly, & Watercress on Rice-Flour Potato Pancake with Maple Vinaigrette recipe from a couple of weeks ago.

Food blogger recipe incest.  I like it.

I worked out this decadent, completely over-the-top (gluten-free!) dish with the help of friends Andrew Zimmern, Scott Pampuch, and Ken Okumura.  A delicious, collaborative blast.

Recipe for Poached Egg, Crispy Pork Belly, & Watercress on Rice Flour-Potato Pancake with Bacon-Maple Vinagrette (whew!) at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly Magazine.  Have at it!

PS I realize that's two poached egg posts in a row.  I'll give it a rest for awhile, I promise.

I posted this recipe a few weeks ago at Dara & Co./Minnesota Monthly magazine.  I've probably said this about too many things to be credible (I'm aware that I lean a bit heavily on the superlative), but this is one of my absolute favorite dishes.  I crave it.  I devour it.  And now you will too, in less than 20 minutes.  Be warned, it's massively addictive...  I use the breakfast sausage I buy from Blue Gentian Farm at the Minneapolis Farmers Market if I don't have chorizo; it works beautifully. (In fact, I could pretty much eat it on everything.)

I've been sauteeing pans of crispy pork with beans and greens for years.  I start with a little bacon, ham, or sausage.  When the pork is nicely browned, I stir in minced garlic, sometimes something spicy, and then the cooked (likely canned navy) beans and saute until they're a bit crisp on the edges.  I finish with a handful of chopped cabbage or chard or spinach, whatever I have in the cooler, tossing things around a bit until the greens wilt.  I might have made it for you.  I always put half away before I dig in, because otherwise I'd eat the whole pan.

Of beans.

Which hurts.

Mark Bittman/New York Times posted this version, Fried Chickpeas with Chorizo & Spinach, earlier in the year and of course it caught my attention.  It's everything I love, with two fabulous additions - a splash of sherry and breadcrumbs to finish, drizzled with olive oil and run under the broiler until golden brown.  Yes.

Fried chickpeas are a revelation, by the way, slightly crunchy outside, creamy inside.  The chorizo adds beautiful color, heat, and the necessary garlic kick.  The breadcrumbs are...sublime.

I warned you.

Fried Chickpeas with Chorizo & Spinach
Mark Bittman for The New York Times
Serves 4

Note: if you can't find stick chorizo, you can substitute spicy, garlicky ground sausage (don't tell Mark).  In that case, brown the sausage first (without oil), breaking into small pieces, then add the beans, and brown as in Step 3 below.  Smoked paprika, added with the beans, adds a lovely flavor and red color.