Crispy Skin Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

I will put this roast in the oven and enjoy the aroma ALL DAY LONG!

I grew up on this roast.  My family is German and Bohemian, and we always put Caraway Seed on it, and served it with sauerkraut, potato dumplings, and a brown gravy made from the roast drippings.  If you're interested, the recipe, Pork, Sauerkraut & Dumplings, is in our first Harter House Cookbook.

I bet, it’ll feed your entire family for a few days! 

It makes the best Pulled Pork and it's just plain delicious. 

There are 2 parts of the pork shoulder – the Picnic Roast (what we’re using) and Boston Butt (which comes from the upper part of the shoulder).

The Picnic roast will have meaty chunks of pork that we can literally pull apart with our fingers. It does take a little extra cooking time, and a little more patience  - and a really great value.

When you purchase a fresh picnic at Harter House, it is usually frozen. (Fresh meaning not cured, as in a ham) I have learned that if I put the roast in the oven frozen, at 350 degrees for 7-8 hours, it turns our perfect and the skin is ALWAYS crispy.

The following recipe comes from ruled.me  blog.

"This recipe cooks the roast from a thawed state, at a lower temperature, for a longer period of time.

Since I am a huge fan of the crispy skin, I have always cooked the roast from the frozen state to ensure the crispy skin."  ~Shelly

8 lbs. Pork Shoulder (bone-in, skin-on)
3 1/2 tbsp. Salt
2 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. Black Pepper
1 tsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Onion Powder

1. Completely wash and pat dry the pork. Leave on the counter-top for 2-3 hours to come to room temperature.

2. Once the pork has been dried and is coming to room temperature (after a few hours), preheat your oven to 250F. Mix together all of the spices in a bowl.

3. Starting skin side down, pat the salt rub all over the pork to completely cover it. Once the bottom is done, flip and place on a wire rack that’s sitting over a baking sheet covered in foil. Spread the rub on all sides and top of the pork.

4. Once your oven is preheated and pork rubbed, place into the oven and bake for anywhere between 8-10 hours. I did 10 hours for my 8 lb. roast, but if you have smaller sizes or bigger sizes, you will have to adjust accordingly. You essentially want the internal temperature to be about 190F.

5. Remove the pork from the oven and cover with foil. Allow the pork to rest for 15 total minutes. Preheat oven to 500F.

6. Once pork is rested and oven heated to  500 F, remove the foil tent from the pork and place into the oven. We will rotate the pork every 5 minutes to allow for even cooking of the skin (YAY CRACKLINS’). There may be smoke that comes out of your oven during this process due to the fat that dripped off during the roasting time. You can either open the window or remove this fat previous to putting into the oven.

7. Take the pork out of the oven and let rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing/digging in.

8. Serve up for family and friends alike – the pork should be completely tender, easily separating from the roast by pulling the meat off with your fingers.

This makes a total of 20 (6 oz.) servings of Crispy Skin Pork Shoulder. 

ENJOY!