My family is French Canadian, so, ever since I can remember, Christmas celebrations obligatorily included réveillon — a long and copious feast held on the night of Christmas Eve. And this réveillon feast obligatorily included tourtière, French Canadian spiced meat pie, made by my late grandmother.
This year, I really wanted to contribute a paleo-approved meat dish to my family’s Christmas Eve réveillon. I’m not a stickler for tradition, so I thought instead of trying to recreate a paleo version of my grandmother’s tourtière, I thought I would create something entirely novel for Christmas; something, *gasp,* better than tourtière (subjectively, that is), but inspired by it.
Deconstructing my grandmother’s simple tourtière recipe, we have:
- Ground pork (my grandmother did not use any other types of ground meats)
- A spice mix (the exact proportions of which were, unfortunately, lost along with her passing)
- Onion
- A pie crust
- Molasses (in my family, we use molasses as a condiment for tourtière)
I am not remotely interested in making or eating a paleo pie crust, so I decided to scrap the idea of a pie altogether. And with this pastry vessel no longer in the works, I felt like ground pork was not such an optimal choice of meat after all. Why not upgrade? I thought. What’s better than ground pork?
Tender, juicy, crispy pulled pork, that’s what.
Pulled pork for Christmas? Why not? Suddenly, the recipe sketched itself out in my mind. I would add molasses to the simmering liquid, create my own, cinnamon and nutmeg-heavy spice mix, with the addition of ground sage and bay leaves to spruce it up a bit. And since I using ground sage, why not top it with delicious, crispy brown butter sage, with toasted hazelnut for extra nuttiness?
Lastly, I wanted an edible vessel to contain and display this extravagance — something festive-looking and simple to prepare. Winter squashes fit the bill superbly, and so I picked up a pair of kabocha squashes with a beautiful Christmas tree-green hue. Perfection.
A few sprigs of rosemary and branches of holly later, and my spiced pulled pork looked very Christmassy indeed. It tasted so good that my grandfather, a habitual tourtière eater, called it the meal’s pièce de résistance.
Is spiced pulled pork going to become a new Christmas tradition? Time will tell!
Happy Holidays everyone. Eat well and be merry!
Joëlle
Pulled pork for Christmas? Yes please! Inspired by the flavours of tourtière (French Canadian meat pie), this pulled pork is simmered in bone broth with molasses, onion, ground sage and Christmas spices, baked inside a squash and topped with brown butter fried sage and toasted hazelnuts. Tender, juicy, crispy -- Simply amazing!
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Ingredients
- 3 lbs pork shoulder
- Himalayan Salt
- Black pepper
- 2 tbsp grass-fed tallow (or other cooking fat)
- 2 small cooking onions, finely diced
- 1/2 cup alcohol (wine or something similar)
- 1 cup bone broth (I used homemade bison broth)
- 2 tbsp blackstrap molasses
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp tamari soy sauce
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp nutmeg
- 1 tbsp ground sage
- 2 tsp allspice
- 2 tsp ginger
- 2 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 2 kabocha squashes
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 cup hazelnuts, peel on
- 2 tbsp grass-fed butter
- 1/2 cup sage leaves, coarsely chopped
- Pinch salt
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Fresh sage leaves
Instructions
- Generously salt pork shoulder, preferably hours before cooking. Store in the fridge until about 1 hour before cooking.
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute mode.
- Season pork shoulder with black pepper on all sides
- When the Instant Pot is hot, add tallow and spread around the bottom of the liner.
- Brown pork shoulder on all sides (about 5-6 minutes per side). Set browned meat aside on cutting board.
- With the Instant Pot still on Saute monde, add onions to the pot and saute for about 3 minutes.
- While the onion is cooking, cut pork shoulder into large cubes (roughly 6cm³).
- Deglaze pot with alcohol, and add the rest of the wet seasonings (broth, molasses, vinegar, soy sauce, bay leaves) and the dry spice mix. Mix until well combined.
- Put the pork shoulder cubes back into the pot.
- Press Cancel on the Instant Pot to turn off Saute mode, and twist the lid on. Making sure the Steam Release Handle is turned to the Sealing position, set the Pressure Cook program to cook for 30 minutes on high pressure, with natural release (for at least 15 minutes)
- While the meat is cooking, preheat oven to 400°F.
- Cut the tops of the squashes (I used a star pattern). Scrape the inside with a spoon to remove the seeds and pith. Rub the squashes (inside and outside) with olive oil until fully coated.
- Place them on a baking tray, and bake for 30 minutes, until almost cooked through.
- Spread hazelnuts on another baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 minutes, or until the skins darken and start to peel off (this can be done at the same time as the squashes are cooking). Keep an eye on them, as they can easily burn.
- Once the hazelnuts are cool enough, chop them in half.
- Bring a skillet to medium heat. Melt butter and mix in sage leaves. Fry for a few minutes, until the sage leaves are crispy and the butter is slightly brown. Add toasted hazelnut halves and mix until they are coated with brown butter. Remove from skillet.
- When the pressure has been fully released from the Instant Pot, remove the lid and transfer the chunks of pork to a large mixing bowl with a slotted spoon.
- Set the Instant Pot back to Saute mode to reduce the sauce for 15 to 20 minutes, and preheat the oven to 450°F
- Shred the pork with two forks, and stuff the pork into the squashes. Spoon about a quarter cup of the thickened sauce into the squashes, over the pork.
- Pour the rest of the sauce into a serving dish to use as a gravy over the meat for extra flavour.
- Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
- Garnish with a bit of the hazelnut sage mixture, strips of lemon zest and fresh sage leaves.
- Serve with the remaining sauce and brown butter sage and toasted hazelnuts.
- Happy Holidays!
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