Cooking pork shoulder (butt) sous vide makes this most delicious and versatile of cuts even more convenient and easy to use. The pork is cooked in two or more packages, depending on its original size and then used as needed. In this case, I decided to go with Asian flavors.
I brined the pork shoulder in a salt, sugar, garlic and ginger solution for 24 hours. After brining I divided it into two 2-inch thick pieces and bagged those with a few tablespoons of ginger pickling liquid, mirin and a little lard. These were then cooked at 158F for about 20 hours. The packages were thoroughly chilled in an ice water bath. At that point, these were then either ready to use right away, can be refrigerated for several days or frozen for like…forever.
The first of the packages was used in a Japanese inspired preparation. I sliced the cooked pork into rectangles and pan seared those in a mixture of grape seed oil and a little lard for flavor. I served them with flavored sushi rice, glazed carrots (cooked with ginger and sake) and plum sauce. The plum sauce is an old favorite from a Jamie Oliver recipe. It goes great with pork and is flavored with ginger, cloves and star anise.
About a month or so later I made a Chinese dish with the other package. I cubed the meat and fried it in a wok. Then I made a stir fry with typical Chinese ingredients (ginger, garlic, scallions, water chestnuts, carrots, red bell peppers,…) and a sauce of chicken stock, soy, rice vinegar and shaoxing wine.
