Recipe: Two pork recipes from 2007 Esquire magazines...not 8 hour cooking

June, I got these from the Esquire site. I must say I am now a more enlightened female! Neither of these recipes are exactly what your DH described, but they both look tasty. Was it a current issue? The April issue isn't on-line yet, so maybe you can check later.

MARIO BATALI'S PORK SHOULDER ALLA PORCHETTA

4 pounds boneless pork shoulder
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 bulb fennel, fronds chopped and reserved, bulb thinly sliced
2 pounds ground pork shoulder (you can use already-made sausages if need be)
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
2 eggs, beaten
4 red onions, halved

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have your butcher butterfly pork shoulder to an even 1 inch thickness, you should have a flat piece of meat about 8 inches by 14 inches. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a saute pan, heat olive oil until smoking. Add the onion and fennel bulb and saute until softened and lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add ground pork, fennel seeds, pepper, rosemary and garlic and cook until the mixture assumes a light color, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes. Allow to cool. Add chopped fennel leaves and eggs and mix well.

Spread the mixture over pork loin and roll up like a jelly roll. Tie with butchers twine and place in roast pan on top of halved red onions. Place in oven and roast for 2 1/2 hours, until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F. Remove and allow to rest for 10 to 20 minutes. Slice into 1 inch thick pieces and serve.

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MICHAEL MINA'S PULLED-PORK SANDWICH
You can make these pulled pork sandwiches a day in advance, then spend the rest of the time buying napkins for when you eat 'em.

It's not just the flavors that make a dish but the layering of textures. I love pulled pork because of the contrast between the crispy exterior and the tender, almost-melting inside. You start with a pork "butt" (actually a pig's shoulder), a cheap but flavorful cut with a good amount of fat that renders out during the long, slow cooking and bastes the meat to give it a caramelized crust.

This is a dish you can make a day ahead with no hassle; just reheat it with some of your favorite barbecue sauce and serve it on plain soft white rolls. (You don't want a real serious roll that is going to interfere with the flavor of the meat.) Because it can even be served at room temperature, I bring this to our tailgates before 49ers games. A little extra barbecue sauce or hot sauce and maybe some mustard, and you're all set.

Serves: 6 to 8
Prep time: 5 minutes
Seasoning time: at least 1 hour
Cooking time: 5 1/2 hours

1/4 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
2 tbsp kosher or coarse salt
2 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp dry mustard (found in spice section)
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 boneless pork butt, about 3 pounds
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1/2 cup water
1 package plain soft white rolls or other bread

Tip: You can buy bone-in or boneless pork butts. Both have their benefits: Cooking bone-in will contribute some flavor (and increase the cooking time slightly). But if you have your butcher take out the bone, you can rub the spice mix into the incisions where the bone was removed -- a great way to get the flavor deep inside the meat.

To make: Mix brown sugar and dry spices together in a small bowl. Rub all over pork, cover, and let sit in the refrigerator for as long as you have time for (as little as 1 hour or up to overnight). Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lay pork on a rack insert fitted inside a roasting pan. (The rack should be high enough so the entire spiced butt is sitting above the cooking liquid.) Pour in apple juice and water, cover pan tightly with foil, and slow roast for 5 hours. Remove foil and cook for another 30 minutes, until pork is brown outside and meat is very tender, basically falling apart.

Remove from oven, transfer to large platter, and allow meat to rest for about 10 minutes. While still warm, shred pork into small pieces using 2 forks or 10 fingers. Transfer to bowl for serving, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. To reheat, just transfer to shallow baking dish, bring to room temperature, and place in preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.

Tip: If the pan drippings aren't burned, discard fat and mix drippings back into the pulled pork, which will make it even more moist and flavorful.

Esquire's note: We used a roasting pan that wasn't much bigger than the meat itself, so the drippings didn't spread out and burn.

To serve: Sandwich between rolls and partner with classic barbecue side dishes like bourbon-baked beans or jalapeno creamed corn. Esquire's note: We ended up with six sandwiches.

Michael Mina is the chef and owner of Michael Mina in San Francisco and Stripsteak in Las Vegas and is the coauthor of Michael Mina: The Cookbook.