Friday, July 11, 2014

Pork Shoulder Roast with Blueberry & Port Pan Sauce – No Pulling Required

Pork shoulder is a popular cut of meat, but it’s almost always cooked until “fork tender,’” which to your average cook means falling apart. This is fine for pulled pork sandwiches, or many other amazing dishes, but sometimes I want something different. It’s sort of like, I love braised short ribs, but sometimes I want roast beef.

Like I said in the video, most people go with pork loin when they want to do a roasted dish like this, but the lower cost shoulder makes a great alternative. The good news is that pork shoulder is much fattier, which makes for juicier, more flavorful meat. That’s also the bad news.

Unlike the very user friendly pork loin, there will be larger veins of fat running through the roast. Big deal, I say. Nothing a steak knife can’t solve, and meat you do liberate will be more than tender enough, as long as you pull it from the oven when the internal temp is about 145 degrees F.

By the way, I’ve given up trying to answer questions about replacing the wine and other booze in these recipes. Of course you can leave it out, and/or sub other things, but since I never do, I can’t guide you very well. So, either start drinking, or start googling…and as always, enjoy!


Ingredients for about 4 large portions:
2 1/2 to 3 pound boneless pork shoulder roast (aka pork butt)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil to sear meat
1 large shallot cut in half
3 springs rosemary
1 cup fresh blueberries
2/3 cup port wine
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 or 3 tablespoons cold butter
-Roast at 325 F. until an internal temp of 145-150 F.

18 comments:

Dain said...

As aaaalways, this looks amazing!
I'm going to be making this tomorrow night for dinner :)
Chef John will you go on chopped please?

Vin Spadafora said...

FREAKISHLY SMALL WOODEN SPOON ALERT!

Ed the house chef said...

Looks amazing of course. Think I'm going to make this with blackberries instead and I've got a wonderful sweet porty style of wine from Italy that's just begging to be used in a recipe like this. It's a little too sweet, sort of like port, for me to drink but it's great for cooking.

philogaia said...

Blueberries...yum. I have my earliest ripening bush starting to get a few ripe on it. I never considered roasting a shoulder like I would a loin but it would sure solve the dry lean meat issue. Definitely going to try this one.

Oh, and I have my first little crop of green beans and was casting about for a marinated bean dish to try. Since I also have mint in my garden I'm going to give your Romano Bean Salad recipe a go, just with normal blue-lakes.

S/V Blondie-Dog said...

Dang Chef! I was half expecting ya' to instruct us all to "preseason your meat in all the nooks and crannies no matter how borderline inappropriate it may seem"... jest' likes ya' done tolds' us to do before. How could ya' forgets? Thanks! You're da' best!

Rich Sidhom said...

Hey Chef John! Quick question: is boneless pork shoulder the same as country style ribs?

Wormbaby said...

No. Here, this will help you. http://www.porkbeinspired.com/Cut_Shoulder.aspx

Unknown said...

"Start drinking, or start googling" LMAO!

Ed the house chef said...

As always, this was delicious. I made mine with blackberries instead of blueberries cause that's how we like it round here. :) Anyway, thanks for the, oh I don't know, 737th timeish.

Anonymous said...

if using beef, what cut would you suggest?

S. Wolf said...

The finished dish is...staring at me...with those blueberry eyes. o_o

Unknown said...

I want to know how to make that side dish and what it is. There was another recipe with a rice and broccoli sprout side dish with tomatoes but can't find it here. They both looked really good.

Unknown said...

We love pork slow roasted and made into pulled pork sandwiches.

jw said...

just cooked this, loved how it came out! Really liked how the couple additions (asides from salt and pepper) added to the flavor of the meat.
Mine was 2.3-lbs, and I took it out (flipping once mid-way) at about a hour fifteen minutes, internal temp 145.
I let it rest and I did produce a certain amount of juices that were perhaps a bit bloody? As I sliced more juices came out--a medium to medium-rare steak came to mind. But got the meat from a good butcher place, I'm not afraid of pinkish pork meat. Really enjoyed it. The gravy with port complimented so well. The rest will go in the fridge. And I plan to do the following: cut the cold meat into slices that will go in the toaster oven, use those on top of asian noodles, alongside some greens such as bok-choy, pea sprouts or brocolini, perhaps egg with runny yolk. Tnx Chef Jhon! (y)

Unknown said...

Missed an opportunity to recommend not using "dingle" berries.

Unknown said...

Chef John... If the 2.75lb roast took about 90 minutes, would I expect a 6 lb roast to go about 180 minutes? If I cut the 6lb in half, does that reduce the cooking time? Thank you. Tom

Jackie Patti said...

I saw this in another video last night - where you used chicken broth in a pork dish. Is there a reason for this? It seems to me that pork broth would be best, maybe ham or beef broth if I didn't have pork on hand.

Unknown said...

This Looks Superb! Just to confirm say a 2Kg Pork Shoulder no bone at 160c for an hour and half?
Thankyou very much
Cathy