A little while ago Lurene and I split a local pastured pig with a trainer at our gym. It turns out a pig has a lot more meat than I expected, so two full freezers later we'll still eating pork at almost every meal! Today's pork adventure is a roasted bone-in pork butt. I based it on the recipe at Cook's Illustrated , but slightly modified.
- Last night, I scored the fat cap of the roast into little one-inch squares, and rubbed it all over with kosher salt and sprinkled it with Chinese five-spice powder. (I use this all the time on pork. It tastes like it should be in cookies, but there's no actual sugar in it!) Then I double-wrapped it in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
- This morning, I unwrapped the roast and brushed off any remaining salt. I sprinkled it with pepper and put in on a V-rack in a roasting pan. I added about four cups of water to the bottom of the roasting pan, and put it in the oven at 325 degrees with a thermometer set to go off at 185 degrees.
- This takes about 5-6 hours to cook. (Mine was about 5.) Twice during the cooking process I pulled it out to baste it. (Of course I don't have a convenient basting device, so I have to use a spoon. I make Lurene do this if I feel like I might burn myself today.)
- Wen the timer went off, I pulled it out of the oven, covered it loosely wit tinfoil, and let it rest. I was supposed to let it rest an hour, but we only made it 30 minutes.
We had this with some steamed carrots. I also made a quick pan sauce by deglazing the roasting pan with some chicken broth and apple cider, and added a little black pepper and garlic powder.
I think this was one of the best things I've ever made. Probably a lot of credit goes to the pig, though.
I'm buying a ticket right now -- be there to nom!
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty much gone! You missed out. :)
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