Shoulder of Pork

pepp77

pepp77

pepp77

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So I grabbed a 1kg joint of shoulder of pork today to have for Sunday lunch. I would like it to be as soft and juicy as possible, so was thinking of doing a very slow roast, but have never done it this way before so was hoping some of the great cooks on here could give me some ideas on how best to cook it to get the nicest eating experience.
 
I must say this was the nicest bit of pork I have ever had. I marinaded it in a few spices overnight and then cooked it at 220c for 30 mins, then turned it down, added water to the pan (pork was on rack) covered with foil and cooked at 140c for 3 hours. Then finally I turned the heat back up to 200c and removed the foil for the final 20 or so minutes.

It then rested just under the tin foil for about another 30 minutes whilst I finished the spuds and veg.
 
If you've got a nice bit of fat (which you should) score it with a knife but not deep enough to go into the flesh.

Pour some oil in your hand and rub over the skin/fat.

Rub salt into all the cuts in the skin all over.

Whack oven up to 240C or so. When up to temp, shove it in there for 25 mins. The skin will crackle :)

Then drop the temp down to whatever cooking temperature you want - the lower, the longer you have to cook it for, but the more tender it'll become. Just use a skewer to test the middle of the pork for the juices (should be clear). I tend to allow about between 30-40 mins per lb of meat (obviously the lower the temp the longer the time per lb).

I guess you could be clever and use a water and cook on a rack, but if you've got a decent amount of fat that should keep the meat moist, and you shouldn't really have to baste - but I guess that's down to the oven, and you have to make a judgement call. :)
 
Freefaller said:
If you've got a nice bit of fat (which you should) score it with a knife but not deep enough to go into the flesh.

Pour some oil in your hand and rub over the skin/fat.

Rub salt into all the cuts in the skin all over.

Whack oven up to 240C or so. When up to temp, shove it in there for 25 mins. The skin will crackle :)

Then drop the temp down to whatever cooking temperature you want - the lower, the longer you have to cook it for, but the more tender it'll become. Just use a skewer to test the middle of the pork for the juices (should be clear).

I guess you could be clever and use a water and cook on a rack, but if you've got a decent amount of fat that should keep the meat moist, and you shouldn't really have to baste - but I guess that's down to the oven, and you have to make a judgement call. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, fairly standard way to slow-cook meats. Couple of hours at a nice low temperature (after the quick blast on high to get the skin going, as you said) and it's hard to not end up with something delicious. Now I've tested it, I quite like cooking pork on a bed of vegetables in order to keep the bottom of the meat a little softer and give you an awesome stock for gravy at the end.
 
I did some pork shoulder recently using a very slow roast.
11 hours at 100 degrees with a BBQ dry rub on it and it literally fell apart at the end and tasted amazing.
Will definitely be doing it like that again.
 
Im gonna do a shoulder of lamb next week I think. Might go for a lower temp longer cook on it.
 
Did a belly of pork at the weekend at 75c for 22hrs and then 30min at 200c on a wire rack, water underneath, covered in a sealed foil cave I made for it.

Marinated in salt, cinnamon sticks, fennel seeds, star anise, garlic and olive oil. Rubbed most off and chucked the hard spices (cinnamon & star anise) in water while it cooked.

Dry and salt the fat more before you put it back in for it's 30min at 200 for the best crackling.

Heaven.

EDIT:

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Moist!
 
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I did one yesterday, 4kg for £10 from Tesco! That's without a bone! :o

Just did it at full for 25 minutes, then turned down to 140c for about 5 hours. Cooked on a trivet of vegetables, was delicious and made awesome gravy. I think it could have done with another hour or two so it really fell apart but it was lovely and moist and everyone loved it. That's what matters really.
 
Everyone says cook veg underneath for kick ass gravy but how do you get the gravy thick? If I add flour it always goes lumpy suggestions?

At the moment I just add instant gravy to thicken it up
 
Pre mix the flour - cornflour I assume - with some water in a cup, then add the lump free sludge to your gravy
 
I usually heat the tin on the hob, add a bit of stock and slowly add flour bit by bit, stirring with a teflon whisk (so you don't scratch the pan! ;)) to get the right consistency, the longer you reduce the thicker it'll be, but you don't want to add too much flour or you get a very "floury" flavoured gravy. It's important IMO to siphon off the fat off the top of the juices.
 
I always go slow cooking route with pork with dry rub and then a blast at 240 for 1/2 hour to crisp, then leave to rest for 20 minutes. NOM!
 
Can do the same with cooking it on a bed of veg, 500ml'ish of dry cider, low and slow, some nice mash, green veg, ace meaty/veg cidery gravy, awesome.
 
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