I thought the first boneless roast was a good deal, but the second “pork shoulder arm picnic whole” at $0.88/ pound seems even better! I can’t seem to keep straight when I might want the pork shoulder/butt, picnic, or ham.
So of course, I have both, and soon leaving town for a week for Thanksgiving!
I’m doing my homework, but would love my fellow Onion’s thoughts; can there be TOO much pork?
We boughy a 4 lb chunk a week ago. At less than $5 total, too good to pass.
Scored the skin crisscrossed about half inch grid. Into the oven. Half hour at 450 F, then F 350 F for about an hour and a half. Until internal temp at 150 F. Came out tender and juicy and the skin was crackling.
Will do again if I see the same deal. Gonna brine with The Costco brine mix next time.
Thank you both! Since I posted, I have been reading about how the “picnic” end is different from the “blade” end, and about how to get crispy skin. I remembered a Serious Eats article about using a baking soda “wash”. Anybody tried this?
A favorite in our house is pulled mojo pork for tacos:
Get a large bone-in pork shoulder/butt; cut slits in the meat and stuff with slivered garlic; season with salt, pepper, and a little cumin and Adobo con Sazon (Mexican seasoned salt). Brown the meat well on all sides, then transfer to a slow cooker/casserole and cover with 1 bottle of Goya Mojo Criollo marinade and 1 bottle of light Latin beer. Add a bay leaf and scatter half a sliced onion and a few cloves of whole garlic over the top. Cover and braise on low heat until the meat is very tender and pulling away from the bone. Let cool a bit in the cooking liquid, then take the meat off the bone (separate out as much fat as you can). Shred the meat into chunks with two forks, drizzle with a little of the cooking liquid, and crisp up under a broiler before serving.
Wow! Browning a 9 pound shoulder sounds like it might take mad skills! Might be outside my “scope”. I might have to try it with the boneless shoulder first. I don’t think my pans and cookers would be big enough for the picnic.
Good ideas! I’m thinking one of these dishes should include something I cut up, and that might benefit from freezing in portions for future meals. Have you tried freezing either of those?
The char siu says pork butt; have you tried it with the “picnic” cut? I love char siu too. I can buy it nearby though, and I’m thinking better than I can make.
I LOVE Pernil, a dish I associate with my mother. We often ate it with my brother’s and sister’s friends, while growing up in NYC, and my mom was always trying to make it.
I’ve tried a few times, trying to get a cut with skin, but not yet in milk !
ETA; so it’s not the Pernil that is cooked in milk. Seems like I recently considered a recipe for a protein cooked in milk, then had second thoughts after reading the reviews. I think it was chicken.
Share the pork in milk recipe please, but it will probably go on the back burner! (Ha ha).
Pork shoulder in milk / Palette fraîche au lait
recipe of Stéphane Reynaud
Ingredients
1.5 kg / 3.3 pound pork shoulder
2 L / 2.1 quart milk
3 cloves of garlic
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
2 bay leaves
In a dutch oven, cover meat completely with milk, add herbs and garlic. Bake in a covered pot at 180ºC / 355ºF until the milk is completely evaporated.
The pork is eaten both hot and cold, accompanied by the confiture of milk at the bottom of the casserole.
I usually rubbed the interior of dutch oven with garlic to ease the cleaning of cooked milk. It usually works.
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
20
No, there can’t.
As you’re going away, I’d suggest some sort of casserole for freezing. If you come up with a good recipe, please share it - as we bought a shoulder joint at the market today. It’s gone straight in the freezer pending a decision on casserole - we’ll eat half and freeze the remainder for a future quick “brown gloop” dinner.