A snowy cold January Sunday seemed like a good day to have the oven on for eight hours.
I usually make pulled pork in a slow-cooker (about 5-6 hours on high), but was in the mood for some crispy pork to put in wraps with a little sweet potato hash. I followed this recipe from Serious Eats, which also allowed me to use that nice big baking sheet and rack that I used for the Thanksgiving spatchcocked turkey, and the recipe couldn’t be any simpler to follow—just an oven temperature + a length of time + a little salt and pepper. Unlike the original recipe, I used the top or butt portion of the shoulder, not the picnic portion with the shank bone, so I’m guessing my 8 lb shoulder, with just a blade bone, had more meat on it. Neither did I use a shoulder with the skin attached, which I don’t really want, but it had a good fat cap that turned out nice and crispy by the end of the cooking time.
I wanted something different than the common barbecue sauces, and decided on some oven-roasted sweet potato hash. It was a good call.
I did make a drizzling sauce of chipotles in adobo sauce whizzed up in the blender with honey and a little olive oil. Just a little of that goes a long way, but it was an interesting flavor alongside the sweet potatoes. Be sure to get a close up view of the roasted pork below and notice how much leftover pork we have!
Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder and Sweet Potato Hash
Preheat oven to 250°; place a sheet of parchment paper over rack on rimmed baking pan.
Ingredients
- 1 pork shoulder, about 8 lbs, either the butt or picnic cut will do; get one with the skin on if you like that
- salt and pepper
- 2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 medium onions, halved then sliced
- olive oil for tossing vegetables
- Optional: your favorite herbs for tossing vegetables
- Optional: tortillas, shredded lettuce, sauce
Preparation
- Preheat oven at around 7:30 A.M.
- Salt and pepper the roast all over and place roast on parchment on roasting rack.
- Place roast in oven at 8:00 A.M. and set timer for 8 hours. It will be done at 4:00 P.M.
- Remove roast and loosely cover with foil while you make the potatoes.
- Raise oven temperature to 400°; meanwhile toss diced potatoes and onion with olive oil to coat. Add herbs if desired.
- Spread potatoes and onions on parchment-lined baking pan and sprinkle with coarse salt and pepper. Bake for about 30-40 minutes until browned and beginning to get crispy.
- Alternatively you could cook the hash in a cast iron skillet.
- Shred the meat with forks, trying not to eat all the crispy edges yourself.
- Pile shredded meat, potatoes, and some shredded lettuce in the tortillas of your choice. Good as is or with some drizzling sauce.
Drizzling sauce (hot): In a blender pulse until smooth, 1 small can chipotles in adobo sauce, 2-3 tablespoons honey, 2 teaspoons olive oil. You can adjust taste with salt and a splash of vinegar—I did.
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