Slow roasted meats are not only delicious, but for some reason they make people think that an incredible amount of skill and personal time were used to procure nothing short of amazing results. Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder is absolutely easy and the results are a real crowd pleaser, family pleaser or just a tastebud pleaser in general. The flavor is always on point and the meat is fall-off-the-bone tender.
Something else magical happens with slow roasted meats that have both fat and a bone. The slow roasting brings the liquid from the cut of meat, the gelatin from any bones and makes a wonderful bone broth that can be used for gravy or in other dishes. When I made this pork shoulder, I used the bone broth later in baked beans. Before use, I refrigerated it and got a pretty decent amount of pastured lard off of it. It’s like the gift that keeps on giving! I got plenty of free lard to cook in for the week.
I really love buying pastured pork because it’s so high in nutrition and so low in icky stuff caused by feeding pigs/hogs GMO foods or grains sprayed with Roundup/Glyphosate and/or Cryolite. They also get plenty of sun when they are on pasture which makes their fat and meat contain much more vitamin D, naturally. I like knowing where my food comes from as much as possible.
This is just a cooking method and not an actual recipe. I let the meat marinate in apple cider vinegar then cook it and add bbq sauce later. It’s really that easy and the flavor is very rich. You’ll need a large dutch oven or a large baking dish (depending on the size of the cut of meat) with a lid.
Ingredients:
(I used around a 7lb cut) (Time: 7.5 hours)
5-7lb bone-in pastured pork shoulder (check out eatwild.com to find a farmer near you)
3/4 cup organic apple cider vinegar (in a glass bottle) for every 5lbs of meat
( I just used a whole cup)
Bake at 275F covered for 7 hours.
Instructions:
Pour the vinegar all over the meat. Marinate for 30 minutes. Halfway through the marinating time, flip the meat over and rub it all over to be sure the outside gets plenty of vinegar. The finished product DOES NOT taste super vinegary at all, unless you add on a vinegar based sauce after cooking.
Bake covered at 275F for 7 hours or till falling off of the bone.
It will look like this when it’s finished. It was on the bone but falling off and I just lightly used a wooden spoon to push it all the way off. That’s a large bone to the right. Save that broth after the meat soaks up some. Let it rest about 7 minutes before serving and/or chopping further.
If desired, place the meat on a cutting board and chop it up with a stainless dough scraper or blade. I use it all the time for chopping meats quickly or for our homemade bread dough. You can find one here. They are such a great thing to have in the kitchen. Lightly salt the meat before adding any sauce.
After I refrigerated the broth left behind from the pork shoulder, I pulled off this much beautiful and extremely nourishing pastured pork lard to use for later.
I REALLY enjoy buying pastured pork shoulders. Can you tell?? You can find a simple, delicious and refined sugar free BBQ sauce recipe here.
Enjoy!!
Comments