Friday, 11 September 2009

• Cooking a BUTT

  
  

  
  Yep. I'm cooking a big butt. Or rather, shoulder. Pork shoulder, that is. I decided to buy a seven pound pork shoulder this week because it was on sale.  It's been ... interesting. I realized when I got it home that I had no idea how to cook such a large piece of meat. Bone-in, as well.
  
  I did a little bit of research, and came up with my own method. I rubbed some garlic salt, seasoning salt, brown sugar, pepper, dried onion and a herb mix I bought at Walmart for pork on top. Then I poured some turkey broth I happened to have from the turkey I bought on sale this week,  and cooked it at 450F for 30 minutes to get a nice crust on it.
  
  I basted it, and cooked it at two hour intervals @ 250F (basting every two hours) for the past four hours. Then, at the four hour mark, I took it out and let it rest for a while, and chopped up some potatoes. Then I chopped up an onion, four carrots, and 3 celery stalks. By now, the bottom of the pan is chock full of turkey/pork goodness. I mixed the vegetables (sans potato) with minced garlic, garlic salt, seasoning salt, pepper, olive oil and dried onion for good measure.  I sprinkled the potatoes on the bottom of the pan, and then added the vegetable, seasoning mix. This way, the seasonings will drip down over the potatoes, and into the bottom, and I can make a VERY flavorful gravy with it :)
  
  

   
  

  
  When I pulled the pork out to add the veggies, I realized it was getting all jiggly and that it had broken apart. That tells me the connective tissue is starting to break down, which means, its going to be nice and tender! I basted it again, added more salt and onion to the top, and covered it with foil, put it back into the oven for the remaining three hours. I'm worried I put WAY too much salt, but it is a seven pound roast, and I have a problem with never adding enough seasonings. I like the flavor of garlic salt, and the texture of sea salt, plus seasoning salt has every other flavor I could possibly want. I always add regular salt for good measure. I don't add full amounts of each salt, instead I added about a third of what you would normally add of one to try to even it out. I figured in three hours the vegetables will be wonderfully soft, and my favorite kind of potatoes are the kind that are slow cooked in meat juices for hours. The next three hours I will cook it at 325F. 
  
  Have you cooked any strange foods like this?
  
  

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