The Recipe Trove

Serving Size  : 16

1 10 pound  pork shoulder

4 cloves  garlic — or more to taste (I used 6)

1 onion — quartered

1 Tablespoon  dried oregano (I ended up using 2 TBS of Mexican Oregano)

1 Tablespoon  ground cumin

1 teaspoon  chili powder

1 Tablespoon  salt

1 teaspoon  ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons  apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup  olive oil — or as needed

3/4 cup  water — plus more as needed

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300ºF.

Score the meat with a sharp knife all over the roast- especially where there is a layer of fat on the pork shoulder- make a 2-inch diamond pattern on the surface of the pork.

Pulse garlic, onion, oregano, cumin, chili, salt and pepper together in a food processor or blender, adding oil in a drizzle and scraping down sides as necessary, until mixture is pasty- you may not need all the oil. (Alternatively, mash ingredients in a mortar and pestle.) Blend in the vinegar.

Rub this mixture well into the pork, getting it into every nook and cranny. Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, just get them in there and massage the paste into the pork. Place the pork in a roasting pan and pour the water in the bottom of the pan

Roast pork for several hours (a 4-pound shoulder may be done in 3 hours, a 10-pound roast could take as long as 6 or 7 hours), turning every hour or so and adding more water as necessary-to keep the juices from burning in the bottom of the pan, until meat is fall-apart tender. (On average, add about 3/4 cup of water every hour to the bottom of the pan.) Finish roasting with the skin side up until crisp, raising heat at end of cooking if necessary.

Let meat rest for 10 to 15 minutes before cutting it up.  The meat should be so tender that slicing it really doesn’t work so well.  Instead, just pull it apart into chunks and serve.