you're making mealtime meaningful.
If you’re planning a large get-together and you’re anything like us, you want to cook dishes that are large enough to feed the whole group. One perfect meal to serve for such events is a pork shoulder (also known as Boston butt or pork butt here in America).
To get the most flavor out of our pork shoulder, we got a cut with the bone in and left the fat on the cut to keep the meat moist while it roasts. To get the most tender meat and the best flavor, we slow roasted it over the course of the day. That may sound like a lot of work, but truthfully it only takes a few minutes of active time and prep work. The rest of the time you just let the oven do the work. To finish it off, we cooked some vegetables in the fat and used the drippings to make a perfect gravy to serve next to the shoulder. Keep reading below for this simple, delicious, roasted pork shoulder recipe…
Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder
Yield(s): Serves (makes 4-6 servings)
30min
you're making mealtime meaningful.
Ingredients
- 1 whole bone-in skin-on pork shoulder, 8-12lbs total
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 8 shallots cut into wedges
- 2 carrots, peeled and halved lengthwise
- 2 sticks celery, halved
- 2 bulbs garlic, skin on, broken into cloves
- 1 apple, cored and quartered
- 7 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 3/4 cup white wine
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 425F.
- Lightly score the skin of the pork with a paring knife in a criss-crossing fashion about a centimeter apart, cutting into the fat, but not the meat. Rub salt and pepper into the skin and fat, pressing it right into the scores you've just made.
- Dust off any excess salt and pepper, turn the pork, and rub more salt and pepper into the underside of the pork. Place the pork skin-side up in a roasting tray and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Lower the heat to 325F, remove the pork from the oven, and tightly cover the pork with a double layer of tinfoil. Place back in the oven and roast for another 4 hours and 30 minutes.
- Remove the pork from the oven, take the foil off, and baste the meat with the fat in the bottom of the tray. Transfer the pork to a chopping board, and spoon out all but three tablespoons of fat from the bottom of the tray.
- Add the vegetables, garlic, apple, bay leaves, and fennel seeds to the roasting pan and stir them into the fat. Place the pork on top of everything and return to the oven without the foil. Roast for another 60 minutes.
- Remove the meat to a serving dish and tent with foil to rest. In the roasting pan, spoon away any excess fat, and add the stock and white wine to the roasting pan. Place the pan on the stove and bring the mixture to a boil on high, then lower the heat to bring the mixture to a simmer. Let the mixture simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Once you have a good, dark gravy, pour the mixture through a sieve into a bowl or gravy boat. Use the spoon to push the gravy through the vegetables.
- Serve the pork next to roast vegetables and with some apple sauce.
Recipe adapted fromJamie Oliver