A uniquely flavorful method of cooking a pork shoulder roast. However, it is SUPER MESSY! Turning a moist 8 pound pork shoulder over in a roasting pan almost filled with wine sauce... if there is a good way to do that without spilling, I don't know what it is. Plus, straining a sauce of this nature is non-trivial.

I have a very large covered roasting pan -- the kind people use for turkeys on Thanksgiving -- and I think I would use that for the roasting part after doing the browning in a smaller pan. OR a simpler solution might be to just cut the recipe down for a smaller roast... 5 lb would be good.

I just do not dig the idea of using a roasting pan as a giant saute pan -- and even my second-biggest roasting pan was not big enough -- so I made these changes to the recipe the second time I cooked it:

1) Sear the pork shoulder in a large sauteuse. Do NOT add the chianti at this time.

2) After the pork is seared, move it to a turkey roaster. Your roasting pan needs to be at least 4 inches bigger ALL AROUND than your pork roast, and it needs to have a proper cover. In my kitchen there is only one vessel that comes close to that description and it's the turkey roaster. Plus it's cool to use the thing more than once a year.

3) Instead of a fine dice or shred for the vegetables, I recommend chopping them to about the size of actual dice. Saute the pancetta and vegetables together in the sauteuse you just used for searing. Then add the chianti as described. After it boils for 3 minutes, add the other liquids and aromatics and bring the whole thing to a boil. When it's good and hot, pour the whole thing into the turkey roaster around the pork. Cover and move to the oven.

4) Don't bother to strain the sauce. Once you've removed the roast, simply pour everything else into a large saucepan or sauteuse and reduce for an hour as written. Obviously you aren't going to end up with the beautiful smooth cooking-school type sauce shown in the photo, but it tastes even better with the vegetables in there IMHO.