Saturday, October 2, 2010

Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder









From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...Years ago this succulent pork roast would have been considered proposal food. The recipe for it was developed for Fine Cooking Magazine by Tasha DeSerio and was judged by their staff to be one of their best recipes of 2009. You can find their list here. I'm always a bit suspicious when recipes come with such high praise. Taste is a very subjective thing and I have a problem with anything that purports to be the "best" of class. Every once in a while, I come across something that really is outstanding and this recipe is one of those instances. It makes an amazingly tender roast with very little effort, though there is significant wait time required to produce the results you want to see. I like to start this process several days before I plan to serve the pork. The roast is rubbed with salt and pepper and is refrigerated for 1 to 3 days before being slowly cooked in the oven at a very low temperature. The end result is a fork tender roast that remains moist without being stringy. You also have an assembly of vegetables so meltingly good that you'll wish had doubled or tripled the quantity of them you prepared. The pork is wonderful and can be served with vegetables for a meal, but it also makes amazing pulled pork sandwiches that are so flavorful that no additional sauce is required. I hope you'll try this almost effortless meal. Here's the recipe.

Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite, courtesy of Fine Cooking Magazine

Ingredients:

1 6 to 7-lb. boneless pork shoulder roast
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 large yellow onion, cut into 1/2-inch-thick rings
3 medium carrots, cut into sticks 1/2 inch wide and 2 to 2-1/2 inches long
10 cloves garlic, peeled
1 cup dry white wine

Directions:

1) Combine salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub mixture over all surfaces of pork shoulder. Place the pork, fat side up, in a 12 x 16 x 3-inch pan. Cover and refrigerate for 1 to 3 days.
2) When ready to proceed, remove pork from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature.
Position a rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Uncover pork and roast until tender at the margins but center still offers some resistance, about 4 to 4-1/2 hours. Add onion, carrots, garlic, wine, and 1 cup water to roasting pan and continue to roast, stirring vegetables occasionally, until the pork is completely tender, about 1 hour more.
3) Remove roast from oven and raise oven temperature to 375 degrees F. Using tongs, separate the pork into 8 to 10 large, rustic chunks and spread out on pan. If most of liquid has evaporated, add a splash more water to create a little more juice. (It shouldn’t be soupy.) Return pork to oven and continue to roast until nicely browned on newly exposed surfaces, about 15 minutes longer. Remove pan from oven, transfer meat and vegetables to a serving platter, and tent loosely with foil. Let rest for 20 minutes. Skim excess fat from juices and serve warm with vegetables and meat. Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

You might also enjoy these recipes:
Crockpot Pork Roast - Annie Bakes
Smoked Pineapple Pork - Coconut and Lime
Dimitri's Pork Roast - Tobias Cooks
Cajun Pork Roast - The Teacher Cooks
Garlic and Herb Crusted Pork Roast - Almost Slowfood
Arista: Tuscan Herb Roasted Pork Roast - One Perfect Bite

Friday, October 1, 2010

Assorted Creams and Ices - Pink Saturday

We've had an unexpected return to warmer weather here in Oregon. Rather than roast beets or make borscht, I thought it might be fun to reprise some of the pink ices we've featured here this past year. You can link to the recipes to find out how they were made and what we were thinking when they were originally featured. I hope you'll enjoy them.

I've a bit of housekeeping to share with you as well. I've added a print feature to the blog that allows printing of all or portions of each post. I've temporarily placed it at the top of each entry where it can be better seen. I'll move it to a less conspicuous area once folks are aware the function has been added.





Peppermint Ice Cream












Cranberry Chambord Sorbet











Pink Grapefruit Sorbet











Sour Cherry Gelato











Pink Lemonade Granita







This post is being linked to:
Pink Saturday, sponsored by Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.