Let’s Get Porked

Last week I went to Fiola DC, a Michelin-starred restaurant and had one of the best–if not *the* best–meal I’ve ever had in my life. The food looked like art, and it tasted like art, too. But the meal I recently had that I keep craving is an extremely humble pork stew with about five ingredients.

Friends, let me tell you: this meal was a revelatory experience in a different way than my fancy night out was. Because I knew food could be delicious, but I’ve had few meals this tasty and with such a depth of flavor that were this simple.

Few ingredients, a breeze to prepare, I simply cannot recommend this recipe enough. There is something so deeply satisfying about it.

NOTES: You may be tempted to use chicken broth in place of the water. I almost did, and I’m so glad I didn’t. This dish is all about the clean flavors of pork, along with the sweetness of the charred cabbage and red peppers. Broth would have muddled that. You get more than enough unctuousness from the pork fat.

I’ll be honest, I was skeptical about how few ingredients this recipe had and how flavorful it was going to be. I shouldn’t have been. As I said, it’s delicious. I followed the recipe *nearly* to the letter, but did add a couple of teaspoons of white wine vinegar at the end. I also seasoned all the food, as I cooked it, in layers. Those are the *only* tweaks I made, and they’re tiny.

I did serve this drizzled with both honey and quality olive oil. I think the olive oil is unnecessary, but the honey is perfection. The next time I make this I may top it with a little fresh parsley or dill, but that will be gilding the lily, because this is already a Michelin a star dish in my heart.