Crispy Skin Slow Roasted Pork

If you have ever wondered what to do with those bags of pork you see in the grocery store - you have come to the right place. This recipe is one of Kenji’s from Serious Eats and it was everything I had imagined it would be.

Nothing fancy here, just salt, pepper and time. The best way to describe this pork roast is to say that it’s what pork used to taste like. The cooking method brings out the natural porky flavor of the pork and produces a tender and juicy melt in your mouth roast that can be sliced, cubed or shredded which makes it perfect for leftovers.

The prep is almost nonexistent and the roast literally cooks itself in about 10 1/2 hours. What!?, did she say… 10 1/2 hours!? Yup. This may sound like a lot of time (which it is) but it is unattended time.

Here’s the breakdown –

1.      Line a rimmed sheet pan with heavy duty foil and parchment paper for easy clean up.

2.      Season your roast and let it hang out in the oven for about 8 hours or until fork tender.

3.      Let it rest on the counter for about 2 hours.

4.      Then return it to the oven for about 20 minutes to crisp up the skin.

Crispy Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder or Butt

1 whole bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder or butt, 8-12 pounds

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

1.      Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat to 250 degrees (I used my convection setting)

2.      Line a rimmed baking sheet with heavy duty foil and set a wire rack inside. Season pork on all sides liberally with salt and pepper and place on parchment paper (for easy clean up). Transfer to the oven and roast until knife or fork inserted into the side shows very little resistance when twisted, about 8 hours total.

3.      Remove pork from oven and tent with foil. Let rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes and up to 2 hours.

4.      Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Drain off fat (see note below) to prevent smoking and return the pork to the oven and roast until skin is blistered, rotating a quarter turn every 5 minutes, about 20 minutes total. If your oven is too small (like mine) to turn the whole pan, just turn the roast a quarter turn (a little trickier, but doable). I used 2 tongs like pinchers to help me rotate the roast on the parchment paper.  Remove the roast from the oven, tent with foil (the same foil tent you had before) and allow to rest an additional 15 minutes.

NOTES:

Pork Shoulder vs Pork Butt - The original recipe asked for shoulder (because it usually has the skin on which will produce crispier skin) my pork butt had no skin only a fat cap  (normal for a butt). I personally prefer the butt which is the upper part of the shoulder (which will produce a less crispy skin) but has a more uniform shape with more marbling (fat equals flavor) which is needed to keep everything juicy, especially when slow roasting or stewing. It truly is a personal preference, ultra crispy skin or ultra juicy meat.

To Prevent Smoking and Splattering - After the resting period drain off pork oil and place a new sheet of foil over the greasy foil or transfer the roast to a new foil lined pan so that the drippings won’t burn in the 500 degree crisping process. I make this point because the grease started to splatter and smoke when I was crisping up the skin.

How long should I cook my roast? - I cooked my 8.34 pound roast for 8 hours and when I inserted a fork into the side there was very little resistance when twisted. If you have smaller or larger roast adjust time accordingly.

Leftovers – remove the bone before you refrigerate the roast and toss it in the freezer for your next batch of broth. The reason for this is that the meat will be soft and pliable which makes it easier to remove the bone at this time. The other reason is that you will now have a boneless roast that will be easy to slice, cube or shred later. The other thing to keep in mind is to only cut or pull away what you plan to eat because the leftovers will keep better if the roast stays as intact as possible.