Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Brown Sugar and Fenugreek
When I started working as a private chef one of the challenges I faced was maximizing my time with limited resources. For instance, every Friday I was required to cook for one hundred or so people by myself. Thankfully, I could serve the food buffet style. But the fact that I had to also transport the food across town, heat and serve it all from an office cafe, made the already large task a bit more interesting.Friday lunches took a week of planning and often two to three days of prep to make it all happen. For instance, Mondays were for menu planning, meal prep for my boss and weekly organization of the kitchen. Then, Tuesdays: more meal prep. Subsequently, half of Wednesdays were spent shopping for food to feed said one hundred and the second half beginning the prep for Friday. The next two days always felt like a mad scramble to make sure everything was prepped and in order. And finally, the two biggest days of the week, often exceeding twelve hours each day left me exhausted for the weekend.
Just in case you are having trouble picturing how much food is needed to feed one hundred people, let me break it down for you.
Each person, on average will eat roughly six to eight ounces of meat, that's fifty pounds of meat. Then we need salad, that's another two pounds, and don't forget dressing and toppings. In addition, we will need sides, perhaps two options to keep things interesting, that will translate to about thirty gallons of vegetables. Most importantly, people will want something sweet to punctuate their meal. So, it's either one-hundred-fifty cookies: in case a few people take two, or cake. And I mean a BIG cake. Am I boring you? I'll go no further. Of course, chefs do this kind of work every day, no big deal. And caterers know better than most how to make the impossible possible. But one person doing this amount of cooking seems unusual to me. Am I flattering myself? I'll stop. I am trying to make a point about pork shoulder. In many ways the Friday lunches were difficult. However, serving pork shoulder was one of the ways I simplified things. Simply because there was little to no prep involved. I had only to make a rub on Wednesday and marinate Thursday. Then I would pop it into the oven for a low roasting session overnight. All that was left was to pull the pork on Friday morning. I should also mention it was a crowd favorite. No, dear reader, I am not flattering myself, just sharing the facts.
Another great thing about this pork is that the method can be duplicated with many different recipes.
In the future I will share more of them with you. But for now, all you need to do is swap out the rub with one you prefer. Then follow the marinating and cooking method I have laid out for you. This pork is great for a dinner party because it makes so much. Alternatively, freeze any extra and pull out as needed for those nights you just don't want to cook.
While this recipe requires almost no prep, it will take a while to cook. I recommend starting early, marinate the pork in the morning and pop it in the oven a couple hours before you head to bed. It will be done when you wake and ready for lunch or dinner that evening. I cooked this for a dinner party, and served it with Hasselback sweet potatoes, pickled peaches and braised cabbage and greens.
Note: many people ask if this pork can be done in a crock pot. While you certainly could cook a pork shoulder to tender goodness in a crock pot, you will not get the crispy pork crust on the top. And this is truly the best part of the recipe. Therefore, I recommend skipping the crock pot, this recipe is equally hands-off.
Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Brown Sugar and Fenugreek
Ingredients
- 1 5-6 lbs pork shoulder
- 1 tbsp cumin seeds
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 guajillo chile
- 3 large garlic cloves, grated with a microplane
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 limes, zested and juiced
- 1 tsp fish sauce
Instructions
- Combine cumin, black peppercorns, fenugreek and guajillo chile in a pan and toast over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat when spices are fragrant and transfer to a spice grinder.
- In a small bowl, mix freshly ground spices with cinnamon, brown sugar, garlic and olive oil.
- Score large diamonds into the fat cap on the pork, liberally salt all over and rub with spice and oil mixture.
- Wrap shoulder tightly with plastic wrap to marinate for 6-8 hours. Alternatively, if you are short on time and/or just impatient, that's fine, just marinate for an hour or two at room temperature. However, the longer you wait, the more succulent and flavorful the pork will be.
- When you are ready to roast, preheat your oven to 225 F. Pull pork from the fridge and allow to rest at room temp while the oven heats.
- Place the pork in a roasting pan with high sides, uncovered in the middle of your oven. Set a timer for 12 hours.
- The pork is done when tender and falling off the bone. Allow shoulder to rest until cool enough to handle. Shred pork into a large bowl with gloved hands, a couple of forks or two pairs of tongs.
- To serve: add a couple spoonfuls of the roasting liquid, lime juice and fish sauce, and mix to combine.