How to Roast a Pork Shoulder

Sundays in Yorkshire mean one thing—a hearty Sunday roast! One of the tastiest cuts, often overlooked, is the pork shoulder. Sourced from outdoor-bred Large White crosses in Easingwold, where the sandy loamy soil creates an ideal environment for pig farming. These conditions help produce pigs with a generous layer of fat, perfect for achieving that ultimate crackling. This guide is designed to show you how to consistently cook a pork shoulder that brims with flavour and delivers perfect crackling every time.

        1.      Prepare the pork: The night before you plan to cook, place the pork shoulder on a tray, skin-side up and salt the skin: Rub a generous amount of salt into the scores, ensuring it gets right into the cuts. This draws moisture to the surface, which aids in the crackling process.

        3.      Refrigerate overnight: Leave the pork uncovered in the fridge overnight. This air-drying step is crucial as it helps dry out the skin, which is key to achieving a crisp finish.

        4.      Preheat your oven to 200°C (gas mark 6) when you’re ready to cook. Place the pork, skin-side up, in a roasting tray and roast for 30 minutes until the skin starts to bubble and crisp up.

        5.      Reduce heat and cover: After the initial blast, reduce the oven temperature to 160°C (gas mark 3), cover the pork loosely with foil, and continue roasting for about 4 hours. This slow roasting makes the meat tender.

        6.      Prepare for final roasting: Remove the pork from the oven, discard the foil, and baste the meat with the drippings in the tray. Toss any vegetables you’d like to roast into the tray and stir them into the drippings.

        7.      Finish roasting: Return the pork to the oven without the foil, placing it back on top of the vegetables for a final hour of roasting. This last hour crisps up the skin into perfect crackling.

        8.      Rest and serve: Once cooked, remove the pork to a serving dish to rest. Meanwhile, make your gravy by removing excess fat from the roasting tray, adding some pork broth, and simmering it on the hob. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up all the flavourful bits from the tray, then strain the gravy through a sieve.