Cider Braised Pork Shank With Red Wine Braised Cabbage, Mustard Spaetzle & Apple Confit

The Shanks

Ingredients

• 8 pork shanks
• 2 juniper berries
• 1/2 c fennel seeds
• 3 star anise
• 2 bay leaves
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1/4 bunch thyme
• 1/4 lb slab bacon, cut into llardons
• 2 white onion, roughly chopped 
• 2 carrots, peeled and rough chopped
• 1 c celery, washed and rough chopped
• salt
• pork or veal stock

Method

1. Season shanks well with salt and roast in a 365 degree oven for one hour and twenty minutes or until shanks are caramelized and brown.
2. In a separate pot, caramelize onion, carrot, and celery for 8-10 minutes.  Deglaze with apple cider and reduce by 80 percent.  Add thyme, garlic, and bay leaf.  Divide mirepoix and reduced cider into a roasting pan. 
3. Add shanks on top of vegetables and cider, cover with veal/pork stock and bring to a boil on the stove.
4. Check the seasoning of braising liquid, making sure it is balanced and not salty.  Add salt if necessary.
5. In a separate bowl, mix juniper berries, fennel seeds & star anise making sure spices are well mixed.  Make into bouqet garnis and place in pan with shanks.
6. Double wrap with aluminum foil and braise in a 325 degree oven for 2 hours.
7. Remove shanks from oven, remove foil, and cool down shanks in the cooking liquid.  Before re-heating, skim off excess fat and reserve for the apple confit.  Reduce remaining liquid to sauce consistency.

Red Wine Braised Cabbage

Ingredients

• 2 heads purple cabbage
• 1 c red wine
• 1/2 c red wine vinegar
• 1/4 c dark  brown sugar
• salt

Method

1. Chop cabbage finely and soak in heavily salted ice water (i c salt:1 gallon water) for 2 hours to remove some of the bitterness.
2. While cabbage is soaking, combine red wine, red wine vinegarand brown sugarin a saucepan and reduce by half.
3. Drain cabbage and place in a roasting pan with reduced wine, vinegar & sugar.
4. Double wrap with aluminum foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 ½ hours, mixing the cabbage halfway through cooking.

Mustard Spaetzle

Ingredients

• 1 ½ c ap flour
• ¼  t salt
• ¼  t ground white pepper
• 1/8 t nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c milk
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1/3 c whole grain mustard
• ¼  c chives
• ¼ c colman’s mustard powder

Method

Combine all ingredients, mix well with a whisk.  Leave mixture out at room temperature for 1 hour.  Pass through a perforated collander into boiling water in separate batches.  Shock in ice water, drain, toss in olive oil and reserve for service.

Apple Confit

Ingredients

• 5 granny smith or green apples
• 1 qt reserved pork fat
• ¼ lb butter

Method

1. Peel, core, and rough chop apples.
2. Add pork fat and cook apples over low heat until apples have sweated out most of their moisture (the apples should no longer look like they’re “boiling”) roughly an hour.
3. Strain fat from apples and puree in a blender.
4. Add cold butter while pureeing, season to taste.