Braised pork

Step 1: Gather the ingredients

Step 2:  Compel your kitchen assistants to prep the veggies

Step 3:  Heat some olive oil

Step 4: This is the worst part.  Cut the pork into big chunks and season with salt and pepper.  Raw meat revolts me, so I work quickly and place my thoughts elsewhere.

Step 5: Sear the pork on all sides to make a nice flavorful crust. You'll waste a good 10-15 minutes of your life on this step, but it keeps the meat moist and juicy inside.  At this point, the house starts smelling great.  Noah wanders out to the kitchen and asks when it will be ready.  I tell him at least 3 hours from now.  A few minutes later, Sarah appears and says, "Can I sample that when it's done?"  I say yes, and I hear Noah giggle in the next room.  I know what he's thinking.

Step 6: Remove the meat and put the veggies in the pan.  Season with salt and pepper and let them sweat for 5 or 10 minutes, stirring to get all those flavorful brown bits off the bottom of the pan.  

Step 7:  Deglaze the pan with a gigantic bottle of burgundy wine.  Ok, I didn't use the whole bottle, just 1/4 cup or so.

Step 8: Nestle the pigs in with the veggies and pour tomato juice over the whole mess. Put in a couple bay leaves, cover and cook for about 3 hours. Everything was going so well up to this point.  It went south after this.

 I went outside for awhile, and when I came back in, I was greeted by a nasty burning smell and the above sad sight.

I took off the lid to find that all the liquid had escaped.

 I saved as much food as I could, and this is what was left in the bottom of the pan. 

 Instead of moist braised meat and vegetables, we had hunks of dry meat for dinner.  Sad waste of time, effort, money, and food.  As I mull over what went wrong, I determined that I used the wrong pan for the job.  It would have been great in a dutch oven, but I don't have one.  I filled my poor electric skillet too full, and it let the liquid bubble out.  Now I'll be spending the next several hours cleaning the kitchen after a disappointing meal.  Depressing.  On a strange sidenote:  Sarah loved it!  She put BBQ sauce on it and declared it her favorite meal, which is so unlike her. 

**Update: 9/30/15**

I have since purchased a cast iron Dutch oven.  Much better! This time, however, Sarah didn't like it.  I think I overdid the burgundy.