Larry has memories of his mom using a pressure cooker at least once a week growing up. My mom never used one, and I never have either. But I’ve been intrigued. I finally got one this week, and even though it’s perfect weather for a soup or stew, I decided to inaugurate it with a pork shoulder. I’m not much of a meat eater – in fact, this is the first time I’ve cooked meat in two months. And the first time I’ve eaten it in a month. But I love pork shoulder. And it’s so well suited to a pressure cooker.

When I first read this recipe, I balked. Three cups of soy sauce? A pound of sugar? Ugh. I decided to cut the sauce recipe in half, and I used just under three pounds of pork shoulder. It worked out really well. We got Napa cabbage in our farmshare this week, so I made up a batch of kimchi and some flour tortillas and we made little tacos – really delicious and everything was so quick to make. The pork shoulder cooked in under an hour – I’m definitely going to make it again.

• Asian-Glazed Pork Shoulder (Food & Wine, January 2007)
• Handmade Flour Tortillas (Fine Cooking #79, July 2006, p. 74)
• Nina’s Kimchi (Food 2.0: Secrets from the Chef Who Fed Google, p. 38)