Total Preparation and Cooking Time: 1 hr. 45 min.
Ingredients
Pork Shoulder, 5 pounds
Yellow Onion, 1 medium-large cut into 1/8 slices
Red Onion, 1 half sliced thinly
Green Onions, 2 stalks sliced into rings
Ginger Root, 2 inches julienned
Root Beer, 1 can at room temperature
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sesame Oil, 2 tbsp
Rice Vinegar, 2 tbsp
Salt, pinch
Instructions:
This dish can be prepared in a Dutch oven, a crock pot, or any cooking vessel that you would normally use to roast meat. I used a Dutch oven, because you can sear and braise the pork in it.
Heat your Dutch oven to medium-high on your stove top. While that's heating up, prepare the meat by cutting it evenly into rectangular blocks (approx. 5"x 1½"x 1½"). Use a paper towel to pat as much moisture off the meat as possible in order to prevent it from steaming while being cooked. Sprinkle salt over all sides of the meat.
Pour a thin layer of extra virgin olive oil into the Dutch oven. When the oil is glistening, sear and brown each side of the pork. You may have to work in more than one batch. Remove the meat from the Dutch oven and set it to the side. Now, pour in a little more olive oil and saute the yellow onion slices until they are softened (not browned). Once the onions are cooked, return the pork to the Dutch oven, pour in a can of root beer, cover the Dutch oven with its lid, and turn the heat to medium-low.
The pork will need to braise for 1½ hours. During that time, you can prepare the marinade, which is basically a pretty standard Asian mixture with the surprise addition of Italian extra virgin olive oil. In a measuring cup, combine the red onion slices, green onion rings, julienned ginger root, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil.
Once the 1½ hour is up, check on the pork. It should fall apart easily. Remove the meat and onions from the Dutch oven and place them into a casserole dish. Thoroughly shred the meat. The cooking portion is over now, but before you pour in the marinade, you're going to want to do a little taste test. Dip a little piece of the pork into your marinade. If you've added enough rice vinegar, your taste buds should be going "Ooooh, yummy" when you bite into the pork. If it still tastes bland, pour in more rice vinegar until you're happy! If you've used too much vinegar, it's okay, you can just add more olive oil to mellow it out.
Pour your marinade over the shredded pork and toss it all together until all the meat is thoroughly coated. And, finally, serve warm or at room temperature over toasted bread.
