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Garlic-Braised Pork Shoulder
Updated Oct. 12, 2023
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- Total Time
- 3 ¾ hours
- Prep Time
- 5 minutes
- Cook Time
- 3 hours 40 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 3 to 3½pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of more than ¼-inch fat
- Salt and pepper
- 2tablespoons neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola
- 2heads garlic, halved crosswise
- Handful of thyme, rosemary, oregano or sage sprigs (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Season the pork all over with salt and pepper (about 1 tablespoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt or 2 teaspoons fine sea salt). You can season the pork up to 2 days ahead and refrigerate until using.
- Step 2
Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high until shimmering. Add the garlic, cut-sides down, and cook until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Remove the garlic, then add the pork shoulder and cook until browned on all sides, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Step 3
Add 4 cups of water, the garlic and the herbs, if using. Bring to a simmer, scraping up browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Cover the pot and transfer to the oven, turning the pork every 30 minutes or so until the pork falls apart when prodded with a fork, 2½ to 3 hours.
- Step 4
Transfer the pork to a cutting board to rest for about 15 minutes. Use tongs to squeeze the garlic halves until the cloves pop out into the braising liquid. Discard the garlic peels and herb sprigs. As the braising liquid sits, a fat cap will appear: Use a spoon to skim off most of it. Season the liquid to taste with salt and pepper.
- Step 5
Slice the pork against the grain into ½-inch-thick slices, or shred the pork with two forks. Return the pork to the braising liquid and serve with a spoonful of the liquid.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
This is how I always cook pork shoulder to use for everything as the author suggests except that water is boring. I use wine and vegetable or chicken stock.
After browning everything, could this be put in a slow cooker to finish?
I agree water is boring. I usually use beer, but when I was out I used ginger beer. Wow what a great result. I package in serving sizes and freeze. Then add BBQ, salsa, or none sauce when served.
Believe it or not, I always do my pork shoulder uncovered, no additional liquid. I cook low and slow (250-ish) usually overnight. The entire exterior is crunchy and nicely browned with a good amount of natural juices at the bottom of the pot. The interior is just as the author described---falling apart tender, succulent, and wobbly. I am going to try the seasoning and garlic in this recipe because it sounds amazing...but use my uncovered method.
Pork shoulder in the slow cooker is fabulous. I buy the pork shoulder and slice it thickly, brown it and add it to the crock pot over and between garlic, and sliced onions. Add a large can of marzano (preferably) tomatoes cut roughly. Add whatever other herbs you like ( like rosemary, parsley) and go away, leaving it to simmer in the crock pot for at least 4 hours or so on high until it falls apart.
The pork is browned whole, not cubed. Nevertheless, browning "caramelizes the natural sugars in the meat and brown the proteins, forming a rich brown crust on the surface of the meat that amplifies the savory flavor of the finished dish..."
Start early and set the oven at 225 F. Use apple cider vinegar or wine or beer to deglaze the dutch oven and substitute some type of stock for water, chicken, vegetable both work well, home made is best but store bought, low sodium is fine too. I prefer bone-in shoulder or butt. Cook for six plus hours at the lower temp. You will know it's ready by temp of meat at about 165 F or more AND meat easily separates with a fork.
Can this same procedure be used with a lamb shoulder?
Yes, correct - it is possible to cook something completely different.
From how it reads to me, "Add the garlic, cut-sides down, and cook until golden brown, 2 to 4 minutes." and then later, "Use tongs to squeeze the garlic halves until the cloves pop out into the braising liquid. Discard the garlic peels and herb sprigs.", It's just like preparing garlic for roasting. Cut the top of the garlic head off to expose the tops of the cloves and it will season the pan when you place it in there for the 2-4 minutes and then remove it.
searing meat does not "seal in the juices" - this is a food myth. searing/browning adds flavor.
Browning\ before slow cooking provides a sweet/smoky caramel flavor while also searing\sealing the internal juices to provide a flavorful juicy meat in the end. It isn't necessary per say but it does enhance the dish considerably.
Water is not boring. It allows the flavor of the pork and garlic to shine.
Sure. Brown the garlic and then meat as directed. (If you need to cut the meat to fit it in your pot, cut into large chunks.) Return the meat and garlic to the pot with the herb(s) and 1-1.5 cups stock or water. Add some salt to taste. Cook at high pressure for 40 minutes. Either release the pressure immediately or let in depressurize on its own (I never find that it really matters, claims otherwise notwithstanding).
"All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking" by Molly Stevens
will this recipe work with a bone-in butt?
For a beginner recipe, a video would be really welcome.
Made it into a pot roast by throwing potatoes and carrots in 45 minutes before the end. Not sure the point of the halved garlic in the searing part, just burned the tips of my garlics. They were worth it in the pot though, took off the skins and they disintegrated into the dish to become flavor. Easy and tasty, would make again
Spice is nice (as is glugging in some wine) but I found this delicious just sticking to the recipe.
Made as written. Let pork rest in broth for a bit, removed, didn't slice but pulled into chunks to use in various recipes. Broth strained in covered dish and refrigerated to remove fat cap then reheat. The pork and the broth both delicious. Less garlic is fine. Couple of chili d'arbol in the braise are good for some 'zip'. Cook time 2 1/2 hr.
I made this for dinner tonight, almost exactly as written. I had hard neck garlic heads from my husband's garden and its impossible to cut them in half. So I peeled them before browning. I used sage, rosemary, and thyme. Water as specified. The result was easy, tender and delicious. 4 cups of water resulted in a lot of braising liquid.
Perfection. Made with chicken broth instead of water. Otherwise wouldn’t change a thing.
Love this recipe, the leftovers are great for sandwiches, tacos etc.
Did not go well with rice. Too much like porridge. Better to reduce broth by half and serve mashed potatoes.
I thought this was delicious, especially the broth. I used water plus the fresh herbs mentioned. By the time the meat was tender, the broth had reduced quite a bit. I guess that's how it became delicious.
I thought it was great with just water, not stock or wine as some have suggested. But perhaps that's because my pot was too big for my piece of meat, so the liquid cooked way down. It was very flavorful. Next time, I might slip the papery husks off the garlic cloves right after browning them (Step 2). The husks absorbed a lot of that yummy liquid, and I hated to just discard them!
I made this as directed, adding sprigs of rosemary and thyme, and it was heavenly. Seriously. Just so darned good!
Thanks, Adam W, for saying what I was thinking. Lol.
Great flavors. Definitely needs the herbs. I did a smaller piece of shoulder in Le Creuset and a most of the water/vegetable was gone. It would also help to have large bulbs of garlic.
Might make a great base for other pork dishes but this was the most boring dish I’ve ever made.
Then you did something wrong. Inferior-quality ingredients maybe?
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