Savory Slow Roasted Pork and Potatoes

When is a butt not a butt? When it's a pork shoulder! Sometimes pork shoulder is referred to as pork butt and apparently this is why:

"In colonial New England butchers packed inexpensive cuts of meat in large barrels called butts for storage and transportation. The shoulder meat packed into these barrels became known as pork butt and the name stuck."

Thanks Google. 

Ingredients:

6 lb pork shoulder (A.K.A. pork butt)

2 tbsps minced garlic

2 tbsps fresh chopped rosemary

2 tsps dry thyme

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sea salt

2 tsps brown sugar

2 tsps black pepper

4 or 5 medium potatoes, cut in chunks

To start, you want to bring the pork to room temperature so take it out of the fridge and leave it on the counter for about 2 hours. Then pat dry with paper towels and make 1/2" cuts through the fat just to the meat. Combine the garlic, rosemary, thyme, olive oil, sea salt, brown sugar and pepper and, using a mortar and pestle, grind into a paste. Rub the paste all over the roast and in the cuts.

Roast in a slow oven, just 250°F, for about 4 hours. You'll want to keep the overhead fan on low. Start checking for doneness. You want to reach an internal temperature of 175°F. Baste with pan juices and return to the oven in half hour increments until you've reached the desired temperature. This one took another hour but it may still have been a little frozen in the middle when I started it.

Remove from the oven and tent with foil for 15 minutes or up to 2 hours. Preheat oven to 500°F. Place roast in a clean pan. Toss the potatoes into the original pan and coat with pan juices and fat. Place both pans in the oven. Remove the pork pan after 15 minutes and cover with foil. Turn the potatoes over. They should take another 15 or so minutes to roast nicely. Once they are cooked you can slice into the pork. Oh and if you deglaze the pan the potatoes were in with beef broth you'll get a lovely au jus!

Serves 6-8

Adapted from: seriouseats.com

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