Summer Stew – Braised Pork Neck with Summer Vegetables and Cream Sauce

A recipe for meltingly tender braised pork neck served with a light cream sauce and summer vegetables.

Course Main course

Cuisine Danish

Nøgleord Braised, Pork neck, Slow cooking, Slow-cooked dishes

Total Time 5

Servings servings

Calories 705kcal

1 pork neck (collar) joint, approx. 1.4 kg
40 g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
1 litre vegetable stock
150 ml white wine optional
Mixed vegetables – a couple of carrots, spring onion tops, the woody ends of the asparagus and the like
Salt and pepper

Melt the butter in a large pot, season the pork neck with salt and pepper and brown it well on all sides. Lift the meat out and set it aside.
Add a couple of good handfuls of mixed vegetables cut into thick slices – they are there to flavour the stock. Parsley stalks, lovage stalks or similar are good here too.
Sprinkle over the flour, then add the white wine and the stock.
Return the meat to the pot, cover with a lid and let it simmer over a low heat for about 4 hours. Turn it once along the way – the liquid should only come about halfway up the joint.
Lift the meat out and set it aside, covered with foil.
Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve and pour it back into the pot.
Let it boil for about 10 minutes so it reduces slightly.
Add the cream and bring the sauce to a good rolling boil, stirring regularly.
Season the sauce with salt and pepper, and add a little cornflour mixed with cold water if you would like it thicker.

Peel the carrots, snap the green asparagus where the stalks break naturally and cut both into bite-sized pieces.
Scrub the potatoes clean. I prefer to leave the skins on, and I am happy to eat them that way too. You can also peel them after cooking, or before – it is up to you.
Put the potatoes in a pan with plenty of cold, well-salted water, adding peppercorns and lovage, parsley or similar if you like, bring to the boil and let them cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes with the lid on.
*If the carrots are thick, they should boil along with the potatoes – otherwise they just need to steep in the hot water afterwards.
Cooking your potatoes this way gives you a lovely firm potato that does not fall apart. The time naturally depends on the size of the potatoes, so test them with a skewer once they have steeped for 10 minutes. If they are still very hard, simply turn the heat back on for a couple of minutes – you quickly learn to judge the cooking time once you have done it a few times. If they only need a little more, let them carry on steeping in the water with the lid on.
Turn off the heat, add the carrots and let the potatoes and carrots finish cooking in the hot water, with the lid on, for about 15 minutes.
Add the green asparagus for the last 3 minutes or so – it should keep plenty of bite.
Meanwhile, pour boiling water over the peas with a little salt and leave them until they are thawed and warmed through.

Serve the pork with the cooked vegetables and the sauce – how you present it is entirely up to you.
You can return the meat to the pot, or put it in a serving dish, pour over the sauce and nestle the vegetables into it.
Or you can serve the meat on a platter, with the vegetables and the sauce in separate bowls.