Ingredients
| 25g large Mexican dried chillies such as ancho or chipotle | |
| 2-4 dried serrano or other small hot chillies (or 1 teaspoon hot chilli flakes) | |
| 6 garlic cloves, peeled | |
| 2 tablespoons olive oil | |
| 1.5kg bone-in pork shoulder, skin removed | |
| 2 tablespoons green peppercorns, drained | |
| 1 x 330ml can lager-style beer | |
| 500ml (2 cups) vegetable stock | |
| 1-1½ teaspoons salt | |
| ½ cup instant polenta or fine yellow cornmeal | |
| ½ cup self-raising flour | |
| 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh or 1 teaspoon dried thyme, oregano or rosemary | |
| 1 medium-sized egg | |
| 125ml (½ cup) buttermilk | |
| 125ml (½ cup) milk | |
| 1 cup mashed kūmara (about 2 medium) |
When buying the pork shoulder, look for a piece that doesn’t have a large covering of skin as you don’t need it for this recipe. If it does, buy a slightly larger weight of pork and remove some of the extra fat when you remove the skin.
The skin can be made into crackling by scoring and rubbing with salt then baking in a 200°C oven for about 45 minutes until rendered and crunchy. You can transfer the cooked, shredded pork to a shallow casserole or gratin-style dish before adding the cornbread topping, so it browns as it cooks. If you leave it in the deep casserole (which is absolutely fine) you will need to grill the top for a few minutes at the end of cooking to achieve a golden topping.
Serve with a winter vege slaw on the side such as red cabbage and kale.
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Instructions
| 1. | Heat the oven to 150°C. |
| 2. | Heat a large heavy-based casserole dish over a medium heat and add the dried chillies. Press down with tongs or a wooden spoon until puffy and aromatic, about 30 seconds for small, 1 minute for larger. |
| 3. | Remove from heat, core, de-seed and finely slice the flesh. Set aside. |
| 4. | Using the back of your knife, lightly crush the garlic cloves, discard the skins and set aside. |
| 5. | Heat the oil in the casserole over a medium/high heat, add the pork and brown for 5 minutes on both sides. |
| 6. | Add the garlic and fry, stirring, for 2 minutes. |
| 7. | Roughly chop the green peppercorns and add to the pork along with the dry chillies, beer, stock and salt (use ½ teaspoon if your stock is salted) and bring to the boil. |
| 8. | Cover and cook in the oven, turning halfway, for 3 hours or until the meat is very tender. |
| 9. | Remove from the oven and shred the meat using two forks, discarding the bones and any fatty bits. |
| 10. | Mix into the juice. At this point you can refrigerate for up to 3 days. |
| 11. | Turn the oven up to 200°C. Combine the cornmeal, flour, herbs and ½ teaspoon of salt in a bowl. |
| 12. | Beat together the egg, buttermilk, milk and kūmara then carefully fold into the flour mixture. |
| 13. | Spoon evenly over the pork and bake for 25 minutes until baked and golden. |
| 14. | If your dish is high sided, you can finish under the grill for 5 minutes to brown the top. |
Recipes & food styling Fiona Smith / Photography Aaron McLean / Styling Fiona Lascelles