Crock-pot pork shoulder roast
There's almost nothing better than comfort food, and today I am preparing a pork shoulder roast to kick fall into gear. The size of the pork shoulder that I am cooking will make anywhere from fourteen to sixteen servings. Now, that's a lot of comforting meals! Plus, if you add root vegetables to the roast, you'll create a one-pot meal that won't require making any side dishes. (I will tell you how and when to add root vegetables to your pork shoulder near the end of this article.)
Ingredients:
1 large pork shoulder roast (the size that I prepared was just under eight pounds)
2 large onions, chunked
2 teaspoons of garlic powder or garlic salt (if you prefer using garlic salt, omit the seasoning salt).
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika
½ teaspoon of turmeric powder
1½ teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper
½ teaspoon of seasoning salt, or more depending on your personal tastes
2 teaspoons of ground ginger
1½ cups of water
Optional ingredients:
6-7 raw carrots, cut into chunks
10–12 raw new potatoes, cut into chunks
4 diced raw sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
2 stalks of celery, cut into chunks
Instructions:
First, combine the garlic powder, smoked paprika, turmeric powder, black pepper, seasoning salt, and ground ginger together in a spice dish; stir well.
Now, sprinkle the dry spice mix all over the pork shoulder and massage the spices into the meat. Cover the shoulder with plastic wrap and allow the meat to marinate for one hour in the refrigerator.
After the pork shoulder has marinated, wash and peel the onions, then slice them into manageable bite-sized chunks. Place the prepared onions into the crock pot.
Next, add 1½ cups of water to the crock pot. Then transfer the pork shoulder to it with the fat cap facing upwards (the fat cap will render out a natural and very flavorful basting broth).
Cover the crockpot with the lid and cook on high for seven hours or on the low setting for ten hours. The pork meat will pull apart extremely easily with a fork when it's finished cooking.
Note:
If you're adding the root vegetables, such as carrots, new potatoes, sweet potatoes, and celery, add them at the same time as you add the onion. Then follow the same steps.
If you're adding pre-cooked root vegetables to your roast, add them during the last hour of cooking. This will prevent the vegetables from getting all mushy.
If you're wanting to add barbecue sauce to your roast for pulled pork sandwiches, slather it on the roast within the last hour of cooking.
You can use a meat or vegetable broth instead of water, but I don't. The pork shoulder will render out enough of its own delicious juices without needing to add any type of broth. Once the pork shoulder has fully cooked, you'll have an extremely flavorful pork broth that can be used to prepare gravy or used as is to spoon over the meat once it's shredded or sliced.