Tools you’ll need:

1 carving knife, SHARP
Blender
Big cutting board for trimming and seasoning the shoulder.
Roasting rack and a roasting pan to collect drippings.
Oven, heated to 500F. 

Ingredients:

Whole pork shoulder, bone in preferably. It’s about 20 pounds.
A few sprigs of rosemary and thyme. Use only leaves.
6 garlic cloves
30g good EVO
25g kosher salt
25g honey

Method:

Put everything in the blender except for the pork shoulder…believe me, I have to be this specific.
Blend until smooth.
Trim the pork, remove skin (rind) and some of the fat under skin, NOT ALL
With knife pierce shoulder, making several incisions, 1 inch or 2 inches deep. Mind the bone.
Rub blended mix over the shoulder, using fingers to drive the mix inside the incisions.
Marinate for 20 mins (pork shoulder should be cold from the fridge)
Stick in oven at 500 degrees until nice and golden, about 45 minutes.
Lower temperature to 200 degrees.
Roast until internal temperature reaches 143 degrees. about 3-4 hours at 200f.
Take out of the oven and let rest for at least 30 minutes before carking.

Tips:

Roasting anything isn’t about an exact time in the oven, most recipes specify roasting times. I like using a thermometer and checking internal temperature and knowing what kind of meat I’m roasting and knowing what kind of doneness I want. Ovens are pretty inaccurate and trusting the knobs and dials on them isn’t a good idea nor is following roasting times on recipes, get a good thermometer and trust that.

I would usually brine a piece of meat like this to impart flavor throughout and maximize juiciness but that requires having the time to do it. Brining a piece of meat like this one would take a few days. Carving holes into the meat “helps”, I don’t necessarily like doing this because the muscles are getting lacerated and I’m only creating pockets of flavor instead of infusing the whole meat with flavor. I also injected a saline solution after roasting, to bring up the saltiness of the final product in an attempt to brute force brining. It works but I still prefer the traditional method.

Comments, feedback? please, let them below and thank you! 

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