Chef John's Pork Agrodolce Is Winter Comfort Food for Folks Craving Summer BBQ

    If you find yourself craving BBQ in the middle of winter, here's the delicious remedy.

    By Chef John
    Published on December 8, 2020

    Agrodolce is a very generic Italian term for any type of sweet and sour condiment, and while it's used on all sorts of things, it really shines, both literally and figuratively, when used for braising chunks of succulent pork shoulder.

    This recipe for Pork Agrodolce was a thoroughly enjoyable, soul-warming dish of comfort food for cold weather, which is why I was so amused by how much it made me think of summer cooking.

    I'm not sure if Italians "barbecue," like we do here in the States, but this sauce very much reminded me of something we'd brush on a rack of ribs while sipping a cold beer. So don't be surprised if you see something like that happen once the weather warms up. In fact, a little touch of smokiness was maybe the only thing this dish was lacking, and we could have taken care of that with a little smoked paprika. Next time.

    As I say in the video below, once the meat is tender, and ready to serve, you're going to have to decide whether to skim the fat. I'll leave that decision to you and your medical team, but if you do skim, here are a few tips. It's hard to skim rendered fat while it's still in the baking dish, so I usually remove the meat, and pour the sauce into a measuring cup, or small saucepan. That way, we have much less surface area, and it'll be way easier to spoon off the top. Also, if you make this ahead of time, and chill it overnight, the fat will harden, and you can easily remove it from the surface.

    Either way, this pork agrodolce is amazing served on rice, pasta, polenta, or as I teased in the video, a big pile of ricotta mashed potatoes. In fact, I enjoyed those so much that if, and when, I adapt this sauce to the summer grill, I'm still going to use that as a side. But, no matter how you serve it, I really hope you give this it a try soon. Enjoy!

    Get the recipe for Chef John's Pork Agrodolce.

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