Maiale al latte — pork braised in milk with sage

Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels. Choose a compact piece about 6–8 cm thick; remove only any tough membranes, leaving the natural fat marbling. If the meat is loose, tie it with kitchen string in several places to hold its shape. Sprinkle with all the salt and pepper. Thinly slice the garlic and finely chop all the sage leaves. Have ready a heavy saucepan about 22–24 cm in diameter with a well-fitting lid; the meat should fit fairly snugly.

Heat all the olive oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the meat and brown for about 8–10 minutes in total, turning with tongs until a golden crust forms on several sides. Do not try to cook the center at this stage. Lower the heat if the residue on the bottom starts to darken too much. Keep all the olive oil, rendered fat and golden-brown, unburned residue in the saucepan.

Toward the end of browning, warm all the weighed milk in another small saucepan just until distinctly warm, without bringing it to a boil. Turn the heat under the meat down to low. Add all the butter, garlic and sage; stir the aromatics along the bottom for about 30 seconds, and do not let the garlic burn. Carefully pour in all the warm milk and gently loosen the residue from the bottom. Bring to a gentle simmer, watching that the milk does not boil over.

Cover the saucepan and braise over very low heat for about 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes. The milk should only simmer gently; if it lifts the lid, lower the heat and leave the lid slightly open for a moment. About every 25–30 minutes, carefully turn the meat, move the sauce along the bottom with a wooden spatula and spoon it over the top of the shoulder. If the liquid runs out before the meat is tender, add hot water 2–3 tablespoons at a time, up to 100 g in total as needed. Small curds in the milk are natural and stay in the sauce. By the end, the meat should be tender through its full thickness and a fork should enter without much resistance; braise a larger or less yielding piece a little longer.

Lift the tender shoulder onto a platter, keeping all the sauce in the saucepan. Cover the meat loosely and leave for about 10 minutes while you finish the sauce. If kitchen string was used, carefully remove it. Add all the juices that collect on the platter to the sauce later rather than discarding them.

Simmer the sauce uncovered over low or medium-low heat for about 5–10 minutes, stirring often along the bottom, until it thickens slightly and begins to coat a spoon. Do not reduce it to a dry, greasy mass. Take the saucepan off the heat, add all the juices from the platter and briefly blend with an immersion blender, keeping the head submerged. Keep all the sauce, garlic, sage and fat; do not strain it. The sauce may remain slightly grainy, which is normal for milk cooked with meat.

Slice the shoulder across the grain about 1 cm thick. Divide the meat into four portions and pour over all the hot sauce. Serve immediately, without unlisted sides. Cool any leftovers quickly, transfer with the sauce to a closed container and refrigerate until the next day at the latest. Reheat gently under a lid with a little water until the meat and sauce are hot throughout.