Asian-Glazed Pork Shoulder
from Ming Tsai, recipe published in Food and Wine magazine

FMM: I think the key to this recipe is the cooking down of the braising liquid and using it to glaze the pork. I have a recipe for Red Cooked Pork that does not do this. Although I have never seen a recipe for this, the pork could also be wrapped in Mandarin Pancakes as done with Peking Duck or Crispy Aromatic Duck..

A few years ago, when Ming Tsai was a contestant on Iron Chef, he prepared his family recipe for pork shoulder in a Chinese style known as "red cooking." Red cooking usually refers to a braise that's intensely flavored with soy sauce, sugar, peppers and spices. The snag is that pork shoulder requires hours of cooking – a luxury he didn't have in the hour-long show. Ming adapted the recipe to use a pressure cooker, with great success. If you like pork that's fork-tender, with a delicious oriental flavor, then this recipe will knock your socks off. Even without a pressure cooker you can still prepare it on the stove or in the oven, but make sure to cook the meat long enough (with gentle heat) to tenderize it.

You can cook it in the oven in a Le Creuset type dish or another covered Dutch oven type container. Make sure the liquid goes to 2/3 of the height of the meat, and place a parchment paper over it (inside the covered dish), to contain the steam even further. I would leave it on a 325F oven for 4 hours or more, checking after 3 hours to see how it's going. You can always add a little water if the liquid reduces too much before the meat is tender, and once it's all cooked you can just reduce the liquid as Ming Tsai's recipe calls for.

Some posters reduced the amount of liquid and sugar. One pound of brown sugar is about 2 cups, which is a lot.

This type of recipe is even better made the day before, left in sauce overnight and finished next day. (http://bewitchingkitchen.com/)

3 cups soy sauce
1 + 1/2 cups dry red wine
1 + 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 pound dark brown sugar
6 scallions, white and light green parts cut into 2-inch lengths
3 small, dried red Thai chiles
One 4-inch piece of fresh ginger, thinly sliced
1 head of garlic, halved crosswise (I used 4 cloves only)
1 medium orange, quartered
One 4-inch cinnamon stick
One 4-pound piece of boneless pork shoulder, cut in large chunks
Freshly ground pepper

In an 8-quart pressure cooker, combine the soy sauce, wine, water, vinegar, sugar, scallions, pepper, ginger, garlic, orange and cinnamon stick. Cook over high heat, stirring, until the sugar is fully dissolved. Season the pork with pepper and add it to the pressure cooker. Close and lock the cooker and bring to full pressure over high heat. Adjust the heat to maintain pressure and cook for 1 hour or until the pork is very tender. Slowly release the pressure and open the cooker. Transfer the pork to a cutting board and cover with foil.

Strain 1 cup of the cooking liquid into a small saucepan; discard the remaining liquid [this could be used as a sauce for the pork]. Boil over high heat until the liquid is reduced by two-thirds and thick, about 5 minutes. Brush a light coating of the sauce over each piece of pork to glaze it. Thinly slice the pork and serve.

Make Ahead: The cooked pork can be refrigerated in the liquid overnight.
Serve with: Steamed Chinese broccoli.

Comments: I've made this dish several times and it's a favorite, because we use the meat in different types of meals: over white rice, as a fajita filling (with a shameless, Tex-Mex-Chinese twist), and over mashed potatoes or pasta. It freezes so well that when I make it for the two of us I save small portions that go straight into storage for easy dinners later. My pressure cooker is a little smaller than 8 quarts, so I proportionally reduce the amount of liquid to leave enough empty space in the pan. Sometimes I also reduce the soy sauce and balsamic vinegar, but the sauce remains flavorful. Depending on the quality of the meat, 1 hour of cooking may not be enough. In that case simply close the pressure cooker and bring it to full pressure for 15 minutes more. (http://bewitchingkitchen.com/)