Cooked this slow-roasted pork shoulder twice, for Christmas, then New Year's Day. Adapted from The Naked Chef, British Jamie Oliver's recipe. It was scrumptious, both times. Re-heated next day too. It is little work - about half hour max prep time then you may go about your business for the next five, six or seven hours.
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One Pork Shoulder (also called "Butt", I prefer the more genteel) roast of about six lbs. Oliver's recipe called for a massive 12 pounds and an overnight cooking of nine or so hours, enough for army I would think.
One large fennel bulb (Root vegetable, also called anise)
A couple of medium carrots
A large yellow onion
About 12 medium cloves garlic (about a head)
Cumin seeds
Coarse salt, kosher or fancy designer type
Bottle Decent White Wine (I used an $8 bottle of Sauvignon Blanc)
Heat oven to 500 degrees. Chop vegetables into coarse dice, mix and dump into roasting pan.
Mash up about a tbsp of cumin seed and coarse salt in mortar and pestle, or use back of spoon in bowl
Score pork roast with sharp knife vertically and horizontally, like a ham. Rub roast with a little olive oil, then rub in cumin seed and salt mixture.
Place roast atop nest of vegetables in roasting pan, and roast at high heat for about one half hour or until it browns. Turn down oven to 250 degrees. Cover.
Check on it in about five hours. Tug on a promontory of pork -- it should yield nicely, meat pulling away easily. If not, cook it another hour or so.
At this point, on 2nd go round, I removed the roast, skimmed off most (not all) fat as 1st time gravy was too greasy. Pour in wine, and return to oven for an hour or so. Longer won't hurt - unlike cakes and pies and less forgiving cuts of meat. precise timing not real important, as with most slow-cooking.*
When ready to serve, take roast out of pan and set aside. Mash up vegetables with potato masher. Cut up pork (I am not expert carver, more neanderthal than skilled butcher -- just sort of pulled pieces off - meat segmented and fell apart naturally), served with vegetable/juices gravy. Meat is meltingly savory and wonderful.
The original recipe called for fennel, not cumin seeds - I love cumin, and thought it worked beautifully. Served with goat-cheese scalloped potatoes.
*Note: In fact, the 1st time I cooked roast, I turned oven up to 325 to cook a pie for 45 minutes, then turned it back down.