The shoulder of pork, also known as the butt of pork, begins as a hulking mass of hard meat covered in thick skin. For a leisurely eight-hour roast, this recipe begins the pork in a low oven, resulting in spoonable tender meat. Then in a ripping hot 500 ° F oven, we finish the shoulder off to quickly warm the skin until it is shatteringly crisp.
Try making a pan sauce (see note) or mixing it with sweet and spicy nuoc cham, char siu Chinese style, Cuban mojo, a sweet Memphis-style barbecue sauce, or a vibrant Argentinian chimichurri if you want to serve your pork with a sauce. Or better still, with a whole set, serve it.
Ingredients
1 whole bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder, 8 to 12 pounds total
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. Adjust the middle position of the oven rack and preheat the oven to 121 ° C (250 ° F).
2. Line a heavy duty aluminum foil rimmed baking sheet (see note) and place a wire rack inside it. On top of the wire rack, placed a piece of parchment paper. Season the pork with salt and pepper on all sides and put it on parchment paper. Transfer to the oven and roast until the knife or fork inserted into the side shows very little resistance, about 8 hours in total, until twisted.
3. Remove the pork and foil from the oven and the tent. Let it stay for at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours at room temperature. Lift the oven to 500 ° F and allow it to preheat. Return the pork to the oven and roast until the skin is blistered and swollen, turning every 5 minutes for a total of approximately 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and allow for an extra 15 minutes to rest. Serve by choosing or simply taking it to the table in the kitchen and let guests choose meat and crispy skin themselves on the side, dipping into the sauce of their choice.
Notes
When the pork is finished, drain off and discard the excess fat and deglaze the rimmed baking sheet by heating it over a single burner and adding two cups of white wine, chicken stock, or a combination of both To make a pan sauce, skip the aluminum foil when roasting; Transfer to a small saucepan, season to taste, and whisk two tablespoons of butter off the heat. Scrape the browned bits.