This recipe is lazy. Perfect for a cold winter day - where you want to stay under blankets in front of the fire, and you have more time than energy. Season the pork, drop it in the pot, surround with vegetables, slap on the lid, and slide it into the oven. Go relax. Five hours later the pork roast is fall apart tender. Remove the lid, raise the heat in the oven, and let it brown for forty-five minutes. Spoon out the roast and the caramelized vegetables, and use the browned drippings in the pot to make a pan sauce.
The pot is also full of fat. Pork shoulder is not a lean cut. That’s why it is perfect for this recipe; the long, slow roast renders the fat and tenderizes the meat. Make sure you pour out all the fat before you start the pan sauce. Don’t worry; plenty of good pork flavor will be stuck in the browned sides of the pot.
Technically, this is a pot roast. I am cooking it in a lidded pot, after all. But the only liquid comes from the vegetables and the pork itself, so I’m not sure it qualifies. Can we get a ruling on this? Is this a braise, or a roast? Whatever it is, it’s delicious.
Recipe: Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Beer and Mustard Sauce
Equipment
- Large pot or dutch oven with a heavy, tight fitting lid (Le Creuset, with their cast iron lids, are perfect for this.)
Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Beer and Mustard Sauce
- Total Time: 6 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 8-12 1x
Description
Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Beer and Mustard Sauce recipe - pork shoulder, roasted low and slow in the oven.
Ingredients
- 4-pound bone-in pork shoulder roast
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 2 medium onions, peeled and cut into quarters
- 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks or ½ pound baby carrots
- ½ cup beer (preferably a Belgian abbey ale or brown ale)
- 1 cup chicken broth (preferably homemade)
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven, season the roast: Set the oven to 325°F. If the pork shoulder has a layer of fat, cut the fat in a diamond crosshatch pattern to help it render. Use your fingers to mix the salt, brown sugar, and pepper in a small bowl, breaking up any clumps of brown sugar, then sprinkle evenly over the pork shoulder, working the seasonings into any natural cuts in the meat.
- Cook the pork: Put the pork shoulder in the dutch oven, surround with the vegetables, cover, and put in the preheated oven, and cook for 5 hours, or until the pork is browned and has reached at least 195°F measured in the thickest part. (205°F would be better.) Remove the lid, increase the heat to 475°F, and cook until the roast is well browned on top, about 45 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven and move the pork and vegetables to a platter with a slotted spoon. (The pork will be fall apart tender. It’s OK if it breaks into a couple of chunks).
- Pan sauce (optional): Discard the fat in the pot. (Use potholders! The pot handles will be blazing hot - they’ve been in the oven for six hours.) Put the pot on the stovetop over medium heat, add the beer, and bring to a boil, scraping to loosen the browned bits from the bottom and sides of the pot. Simmer the beer until it is almost gone, about 5 minutes. Add the chicken stock and mustard to the pot and simmer until reduced by half, about 10 more minutes. Transfer the sauce to a gravy boat, drizzle a couple of tablespoons of the pan sauce over the pork, and serve, passing the rest of the sauce at the table.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 6 hours
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: American
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Notes
- For serving, I try to cut the roast into slices. Emphasis on "try" - the roast is so tender that most of the slices fall apart as I try to cut them. That's OK. Do your best, but don’t worry if the cuts look ragged - mine did too - I just poured a few tablespoons of the pan sauce on top and served it up.
- The key to this recipe is a heavy, tight fitting lid. That’s why I recommend cast iron in the equipment section. The heavy lid will help radiate heat onto the meat, and the tight fit will trap liquid, helping the roast steam as it cooks. If your pot lid does not make a tight seal, use aluminum foil to help it out. Cover the top of the pot with a sheet of foil that overhangs the edge, then push the lid down into the foil, and crimp the foil around the edge of the pot and lid.
- Add more diced onions and carrots if you have room in your pot. I used a round Le Creuset 3.5 quart oven, which was a tight fit for the pork. I think a 5 quart pot would have worked better. (My Le Creuset selection has a hole in the middle. I go from 3.5 quarts to 9.5 quarts, with nothing in between, so I went with what I had, and it worked fine.)
What do you think?
Questions? Other ideas? Leave them in the comments section below.
Related Posts:
Baked Chicken Thighs with Mustard and Herbs
Quick Baked Potatoes
Sous Vide Pork Steaks
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Claudia Valdes says
i can't wait to get my pork shoulder into the oven. I made a brine last night, let it cool and then bathed the shoulder in it over night about 12 hours so far. I came to this site to check on how long to cook and at what temp. I have an 8.67 pound cut. The oven has convection option and i will be using a 5 Q dutch oven. going to insert the thermometer (not touching the bone) and cover with lid. May add veggies about half way through. Happy 2024 to everyone!
Mike Vrobel says
Google luck and happy new year!
Steve, a Dad who cooks says
I've made this many times. It's ALWAYS easy, ALWAYS great.
A good example of cooking genius, and you essentially can't screw it up.
Follow the recipe. Make sure you've got a Dutch oven or something with a heavy lid.
If you can't find Belgian beer, don't fret. Use a dark beer of any kind. Guinness, Modelo. It'll work just fine. In my experience, vegetables can get mushy. So I put the biggest chunks of carrots and onions in first. About halfway through, I add the smaller pieces. But you want the vegetables in there long enough to caramelize. And you can add potatoes, too. And coleslaw is a good side.
Mike Vrobel says
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoy it.
Cinda says
This turned out great! I used my huge cast iron Dutch oven and simmered it on the stovetop for 5 hours. Then I removed the lid, added some thick slices potatoes and finished it up in the oven. My husband of 8 years told me it was the best thing I had ever made for him! He even liked the sauce which he generally considers 'foo foo' ???? Thanks!
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
I do not have a convection (or air circulating) oven - just a boring, regular oven, which might explain the extra-dark veggies.
Christoph T. says
Amazing - the roast was just simply fantastic. My sister-in-law ate amounts of meat I've never seen her eating. Same for me, as I'm no lover of pork. My wife and me just had a problem with the roast and the veggies getting too dark. We tried to finish te pan sauce, but the browned bits were just too dark an bitter. Now a few hours later, my wife suggested, that our oven was just too hot, because here in Germany ovens usually work on "air circulation"-mode, and often in recipes there are two temperatures, one for air circulation, and a higher one for other modes. What basis are your temps for? Because if we had the temps about 20° too high all the time, its no wonder, we got dark veggies 🙂 The roast still was so delicious, it will be repeated really soon!
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
Bone in will work great - you'll know it is done when you can pull the bone out.
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Marc says
WOW, I was not expecting such a quick response. I have this in the oven right now, I used a bone in Boston Butt.
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
Whoops - that shouldn't be in there. (I was going to toss the vegetables with it, but the pork provides more than enough fat to roast them.)
Marc says
What is the vegetable oil used for?
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
Yes, absolutely: https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/slow-cooker-pork-pot-roast/ …you don't get as good of browning on the roast or the vegetables, of course...
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
Thanks! When I think about it, I put the fat cap facing up - but the way this roast was cut, the fat cap wound up on the side. (I would have to stand it on a narrow edge to get the fat cap up, and it didn't seem worth it.)
John K. says
Looks awesome Mike! Do you cook it fat cap up or down? I tend to put the cap up -- but it looks like you have yours down...maybe I need to try that. One of my favorites is to use some "bavarian seasoning" (from Penzy's), and a little applesauce. I think I'm going to use your approach this weekend -- a great dish for a Browns game!
Jamie Smith says
Can you do this in a crock pot?
Mike V @ DadCooksDinner says
The poor Dutch oven. So lonely.
Chris Lukowski says
I bet your Dutch oven was happy you found a use for it after the pressure cooker stole so much of its thunder.