L’arrosto di Maiale ha Cucinato nel Latte (Pork Roast Cooked in Milk)

In a large Dutch oven, cook bacon strips until crispy. Remove from the pot and crumble when cool; leave the drippings in the pot. Add the olive oil and heat over medium high heat. Take the pork roast and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Brown the roast really well on all sides until a nice golden color. Remove from the pot but leave the olive oil and bacon grease.

Roughly chop the onion and add it to the pan until just soft. Add the celery and carrot and cook for about another 2 minutes, then add the garlic to roast for about 30 seconds. To the pot, add the wine to deglaze the bottom. Add the herbs and bouillon and let it cook for about another 2-3 minutes until wine is reduced a little bit. Add the pork roast and the crumbled bacon back into the pan and add the half-and-half and milk and salt and pepper to taste.

Cook on medium/low for about 2-2 1/2 hours until pork is tender. Don’t worry if about halfway through you open the pot and the milk has curdled; it’s supposed to do that! You might want to keep another cup of milk handy; sometimes it cooks down. Open the pot and stir the pork and milk every once in a while so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

After the pork is finished cooking, let it sit in the juices for about 15-20 minutes before you take it out and cut it. I usually fish out the bay leaves and take an immersion blender to the pot and serve the milk “gravy” over the top. If you don’t have an immersion blender, don’t worry, you can just scoop it on top; the blender just makes it a little bit creamier.

Mangia!