Basic Pork Roast

When I first started cooking for my family as a newlywed, my go-to protein was almost always chicken or hamburger.  At the time, my husband was in the military, and we had access to the commissary on the post.  Things were really cheap, and I could get away with only spending about $300 a month on groceries and household items, including baby formula!

That was nearly seven years ago.  Needless to say, today we are no longer in the military and therefore don’t have access to a commissary, which I hear isn’t as great a deal as it used to be anyway, and the price of food has gone up considerably.  Tired of chicken, and unwilling to spend nearly $3 a pound for 80/20 ground beef, I began looking for other options.

My childhood memory recalled that pork might be a fatty meat that I wanted to avoid!  Growing up fairly poor, we ate less than great cuts of meat.  My father liked steak, but we couldn’t afford good steak, and so I was made to choke down more gristle than meat most nights.  As such, I have avoided most questionable meat my entire adult life.
Enter pork shoulder roast, or as most of us laughingly know it as, pork butt or Boston butt roast.  Don’t let the name put you off, this roast comes from the shoulder of the hog, nowhere near the butt!

In my area, I am able to find this cut on sale for .89¢-$1.49/lb at least once every couple of months, and I stock up.  I can usually get 6-8 meals out of one roast, and the rest I portion out and freeze in a bit of the cooking liquid.
You can use this to make pork fried rice, pork tacos, pork gravy with mashed potatoes, green chili pork enchiladas, barbecued pork sandwiches, and more!

Ingredients:

• 1 6-8 lb pork shoulder roast I get the largest package I can find and adjust the other ingredients accordingly.
• 1 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard You can also use 1 tsp dry ground mustard
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar You can also substitute an equal amount of brown sugar or molasses but this will increase the sugar content.
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1.5 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes optional
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bay leaf, dried

Instructions:

1. Spray a crock-pot large enough to fit your roast lightly with nonstick spray. Place the sliced onion and the bay leaf in the bottom of the crock-pot.
2. Rinse the pork roast with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place the roast in the crock-pot with the fat cap facing upwards.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together all the remaining ingredients, and spread the mixture over the top of the roast. Cover.
4. Turn your crock-pot on high for 2-4 hours, or until the cooking liquid produced by the roast begins to boil. Once the liquid comes to a boil, turn the crock-pot to low and continue to cook until the meat separates from the bone and you are easily able to shred it between your fingers.
5. I cook my roast for no less than 24 hours. This cut of meat is very forgiving and really cannot be overcooked. If the liquid cooks down too much, add a cup or so of water. If the top of the roast get a bit dry or crispy looking, I just chop it up with some of the moist inside meat and use it as normal. I feel doing so provides a bit of texture as grilling a piece of meat would.

Enjoy!

Nichole