One-Pot Wonders

Vinha d'alhos - Portuguese Pork

by:
September 20, 2015
5
1 Ratings
Vinha d'alhos - Portuguese Pork
Photo by Haute in Paradise ||
  • Serves 6
Author Notes

This is a one pot solution to my grandmother's vinegar marinaded pork. Packed with garlic and chili peppers and boneless pork and cooked to fork tender. —Haute in Paradise ||

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 3 pounds Pork Shoulder/Pork Butt (Boneless)
  • 2.5 cups Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1.5 cups White Wine
  • 1 Head of Garlic - Peeled and Smashed
  • 3 Bay Leaves
  • 4 sprigs Fresh Thyme
  • 6 Chili peppers, de-stemmed and de-seeded
  • 1 tablespoon Chili pepper water optional
  • 2 tablespoons Shoyu - soy sauce
  • 1 cup All purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup Olive Oil
  • 1 Onion - sliced
  • 2 Carrots - cut into circles
  • 1 Celery - chopped
  • 4 Large baking potatoes - peeled and cut in half length wise
Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 325F.
  2. Cube pork into large chunks about 3” x 3” then salt and pepper. Using fresh cracked black pepper and Hawaiian rock salt really elevates this dish. Then dredge the pork in flour and place on the side.
  3. Using a large Dutch oven heat olive oil to on high heat. When the oil is ready start browning each side of the chunks of pork. Make sure to brown each side. When done browning the pieces remove and put aside. I suggest putting a large piece of tin foil on the counter next to the stove and letting the pork rest there while you brown the other pieces.
  4. Turn heat down to medium and place onions, garlic, and carrots in the pot. If there isn’t a lot of olive oil left on the bottom of the pan don’t be afraid to add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil. Sautee the veggies for about 4 minutes. Make sure to scrap up the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Then pour in wine, shoyu, vinegar, and chili pepper water, and chili peppers. Finally add the bay leaves, and thyme. Bring to a simmer then add meat back into the pot. I pour all the extra juices that the tin foil might have gathered will I made the sauce.
  5. Place in the oven and cook for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Open the lid and then place potatoes around in the pan. Put back in the oven and continue cooking for about 45 minutes. The meat should be tender to a fork. Remove the bay leaves and the thyme sprigs, discard.
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  • Simone Girard
    Simone Girard
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  • Peter Machado
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  • William Tavares
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16 Reviews

William T.
William T. October 1, 2024
This recipe is really good, if you cook the meat more than just brown it before browning the veggies, the reason why is the pork was way too soft, so what I did the next day was take it out of the fridge scoop it onto a pan so everything can bake on broil for 20 minutes, the juice all gone into the food now, very tarty spicy awesome taste. I have a lot of carrots and potatoes in there so I don’t need to eat rice, just a salad on the side.

So when cooking for the first time, make sure you are not cooking the juice in a deep dish, spread it all out so the food can cook and the sauce can soak into the food and become less. This way the next day you will not need to bake, don’t throw away the sauce, during any time, it dissolves on its own into the food.
 
Simone G.
Simone G. June 11, 2020
Nope, nope, nope. This is all vinegar tasting. The pork should be marinated in this mixture of vinegar, soy sauce, etc then salt, peppered, and fried. After sauté of veggies then add broth of choice to equal what the vinegar mixture was. Otherwise the other way the vinegar is just way to much and unedible.
 
Peter M.
Peter M. October 22, 2020
Hi Simone
How would I marinate - would I use just the ingredients - vinegar, wine,soysauce - exactly the measurements from the recipe? (Ok I'm very new to this)
Thanks
 
Peter M.
Peter M. October 22, 2020
I also realize I'm replying to a 2 year old comment. Here is the recipe url
https://food52.com/recipes/38408-vinha-d-alhos-portuguese-pork
 
William T.
William T. October 1, 2024
This just isn’t your thing so this is just your opinion, this is how my family made it in Hawaii, the difference is the way he described the way to cook it was changed by me a little, but every person has their own style and taste. Your texts comes across kind of like you know for sure it was wrong, which I know that you have a different taste, my family love our food soaked in and with vinegar taste being strong, you seemed very rude in your comment when you didn’t respond to him ever, very sad, next time please know that your opinion matters only to you, and you are not speaking for all.
 
William T.
William T. October 1, 2024
You did fine brother, this recipe was awesome, as all recipes go, they all need to be tweaked to the persons taste, I expected that
 
William T.
William T. October 1, 2024
Don’t trip, people need to realize that at the end of the day, they are cooking for themselves so they need to add things and taste as they go, in every recipe cooked, it takes at least three times to perfect it to your taste because you add different ingredients and you start cooking it in different ways to your own liking and your own taste so I just think that people should use these recipes to build up on the recipes idea. Be open minded and appreciate the person that put it out there for people to even have an idea in the first place.
 
William T.
William T. October 1, 2024
My comments about it not being your thing was meant for Simone
 
Smaug
Smaug July 13, 2018
This recipe needs clarification- "chili peppers" could mean any of several hundred things- some authors use the term for any sort of peppers at all; the author seems to mean dried peppers, presumably soaked since he speaks of "chili water", though soaking isn't mentioned in the directions. It could still be any sort of pepper from an Ancho to a Tuxtla. Peppers are not, at any rate, a traditional ingredient of this dish.
 
A
A November 25, 2018
Chili pepper water is chopped up Hawaiian chili peppers in water. Hawaiichili pepper are fresh and small, about 1.5” long but hot. I don’t know the Scoville rating forthem, but definitely hotter thanThai chili peppers. People generally have it as a chaser by the teaspoon when eating Hawaii food.
 
William T.
William T. October 1, 2024
You don’t need chilly pepper water, you can just use your favorite dried, crushed or fresh chilies, that’s what I do, just go with what you like
 
William T.
William T. October 1, 2024
You can use the main idea of the dish and then cook and add things your way then make your own recipe. That’s how cooking is, taking a recipe and making it the way you like
 
Smaug
Smaug October 2, 2024
Sure, but It's nice to know what the person who wrote the recipe intended. It's unlikely that it included Hawaiian chili peppers.
 
Lynn D.
Lynn D. June 27, 2018
I'm excited to try this. I have eaten pork vindaloo at Indian restaurants and am looking forward to trying the original Portuguese dish.
 
William T.
William T. October 1, 2024
Pork vindaloo isn’t the same thing as this. This is made with white cooking wine and apple cider vinegar, vindaloo is made with curry, much different thing.
 
Smaug
Smaug October 2, 2024
Curry's not a specific ingredient, but Vindaloo is kind of a kitchen sink dish- and blazing hot. Vinha d'Alhos is, as the name implies, strongly dependent on wine and garlic.