Italian pulled pork: An Old World take on a Southern standby

Pork doesn’t always require a tender touch, said Bruce Aidells in The Great Meat Cookbook (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). I’d never turn down a center cut of heirloom pork roasted until lightly pink at its center, but “sometimes I crave the old-fashioned flavor of well-done pork,” a shoulder or Boston butt rubbed in spices and roasted slowly in its own juices for hours. This Italian take on pulled pork “has peasant roots,” but if you can make it with pasture-raised heirloom pork, its rewards can be sublime.

My favorite cut for a dish like this is Boston butt, bone in or not. “It has ample fat, so it can be cooked to very well done and still provide juicy and succulent meat.” And “I love the budget price.” If you have leftovers, try using the shredded meat in a tomato sauce with pasta or as a ravioli filling. Or you can just fork the rewarmed meat onto a toasted roll and slather it with mayonnaise and the leftover olive-and-anchovy relish.

Recipe of the week

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Pork shoulder with green-olive relish

For the roast

• 2 tbsp each chopped fresh sage, rosemary, and garlic
• 1 tsp ground fennel seeds
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
• One 5- to 6-lb boneless Boston butt
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 450. Set the rack in the lower third of the oven.

Combine sage, rosemary, garlic, fennel seeds, salt, and black pepper in a bowl. Lay pork fat side up on a work surface. Brush the top and sides with oil. Rub top and sides with herb mix. If roast is not tied, tie with 4 or 5 loops of butcher’s twine.

Place pork fat side up on a rack in a roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 250 and continue to roast for 4 to 8 more hours, checking the meat every 30 minutes, until the internal temperature registers 185 to 190 and the meat is just shy of falling apart. Remove from oven, cover loosely with foil, and let the meat rest for about 20 minutes.

Remove twine and cut the pork into chunks or pull it into shreds. Serves 6 to 8.

For the relish

• 2 anchovy fillets
• 1 small garlic clove, peeled
• ½ cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• ½ cup pitted green olives, such as picholine
• ¼ cup celery leaves
• 2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp chopped fresh sage
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• ¹⁄³ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Turn on the motor of a food processor and drop anchovies and garlic through the feed tube. Turn off machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add remaining ingredients except oil, salt, and pepper. Pulse until finely chopped. With the motor running, pour in oil. Scrape into a serving bowl and season with salt and pepper.