I have a huge piece pork shoulder. How do I cook this?

what the title says.

I have a gas stove/oven and no smoker. What do I do with this huge thing

Season the roast liberally with S&P. Brown it in a big pot. Set aside. Cook some chopped onion, carrot, leek, celery (whatever you have) in the fat in that pot. Don't use much celery (no more than half the onion). When the veg are getting browned and sweet, add some wine (I would use white but red would also work). Cook on very high until it's reduced by half or more. Dump shoulder back in pot. Add stock (if you have it) up the sides of the pot about halfway up the roast. If you have no stock, canned low sodium chicken broth will do. Don't use canned beef stock, it is terrible. Water is better than that. Add some herbs, thyme, bay leaf, parsely. Also peppercorns and smashed garlic cloves.

Cover pot and put in 300 oven. Every half hour or so, turn it with tongs. Cook for a long time, until roast is totally tender.

Then if you want, remove the roast, put the pot on the stove on high, reduce the liquid and strain when it's getting thick. Nice sauce.

Roast it for 5 hours in liquid. Enjoy.

Example

That sounds good, Manton.

You could do it kahlua style. Fat side up in a roasting pan. 1/4 cup kosher salt, some liquid smoke, about a cup of water. Cover pan tightly in foil, oven at 300 until fork tender. Shred, discarding excess ***** stuff, then spoon some of the drippings into the shredded pork.

has anyone else found it ironic when people suggest using Kosher salt on pork products?

No more so than putting it into anything trafe or say, a dish that mixes meat and dairy. It's just often the salt of choice for cooking.

Kosher salt has lost all religious meaning, for the most part, and is now a wannabe chef/food snob thing these days. I use it all the time because I like the size of the crystals, you can feel how much you are using. It's also more visible on the food so you can get a better sense of how much you have already used. It's also less potent by volume than table salt, so there is a greater margin for error.

I like sea salt

Sea salt is a nice garnish but it's not something to cook with or season with across the board. It's too expensive and the nuances of flavor will be lost. Seasoning a roast with sea salt is like sauteeing with EVOO. No point.

season and then smoke it

Braises are great because they are easy, delicious, and if you are a crappy cook like myself, allow you plenty of time to prepare sides. Give this a try: http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2007/0..._shoulder.html or this

This thing is 9 pounds, so I'm probably have to cut it in thirds or fourths.

I think I'm going to follow Manton's/Internet article. Sounds basically like a boeuf bourguignon, but with pork.

Thanks guys. Should be food enough for a week or so.

Actually, I think I might try the wine based braising liquid and then a canned tomato based liquid.

You needn't cut it up.

As long as you have the time - the more the better - then try using the roasting it at a relatively low temperature like around 250F for several hours (9, 10 hours or more):

http://www.delish.com/cooking-shows/...ed-pork-recipe
http://kitchenthoughtsandviews.blogs...sted-pork.html

Originally Posted by blackjack

Click to expand...

You needn't cut it up.

As long as you have the time - the more the better - then try using the roasting it at a relatively low temperature like around 250F for several hours (9, 10 hours or more):

http://www.delish.com/cooking-shows/...ed-pork-recipe
http://kitchenthoughtsandviews.blogs...sted-pork.html

This is my preferred approach.

manton, any reason why you couldnt use a pork stock?

i rarely see pork stock called for, is there something in particular wrong with it?