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Pork shoulder: What is it? And how do you cook it?

From marinating to cooking and grilling

Pork shoulder, or pork neck, is a versatile cut of pork. You can cook it as a roast, you can braise it, and you can cook it in separate steaks.

As you can see, pork shoulder can be used in many ways. In this article we will tell you more about it and explain how you can best cook your pork shoulder. Ultimately, we will share a few more recipes.

Chapter 1

What is pork shoulder?

The pork shoulder, or pork neck, is a succulent roast. It is sold with and without bone. Neck chops are also cut from the pork shoulder.

Pulled Pork

The pork shoulder is often used to make pulled pork or to make a tasty roulade. In addition, it can also be roasted so that you can cut beautiful slices from it.

For making pulled pork, you can choose from the whole shoulder or the Boston butt. The Boston butt is often chosen. Boston butt is a boned pork neck and half of a shoulder.

Chapter 2

How to cook a pork shoulder?

The pork neck is ideal for slow cooking. Therefore, to cook a pork shoulder, you could use an oven or a suitable barbecue.

Rubbing
It is nice to marinate the pork shoulder in advance with a delicious dry rub. There are countless rubs that can help you with this. In addition, it is easy to make your own spice mixture. For example, check out the “pork shoulder with Texan chili rub” for a rub that we made ourselves.

It is good to let a rub soak in for a few hours. Do this for at least two hours. To do this, pat the pork neck dry with kitchen paper. Coat the meat on all sides with the rub. Put the pork shoulder in an oven dish and cover it with aluminum foil. Then put it back in the refrigerator.

Roasting

Rub the pork shoulder thickly with your favorite rub.
Take the pork shoulder out of the refrigerator an hour before you start.
Preheat the oven to 125 °C and grease the roasting pan with some butter.
Place the roasting pan with the pork shoulder in the center of the oven on a wire rack. Insert a core thermometer into the meat and set it to 60 °C.
During cooking, all the juices are released into the roasting pan. Spoon this liquid over the meat every 25 minutes.
When the core temperature has been reached, remove the pork shoulder from the roasting pan and place it directly on the grid and place the roasting pan under the grid. Set the oven to 225 °C. Insert the core thermometer back into the meat and set to 67 °C. This will brown the meat all over.
As soon as the core temperature has been reached, remove the pork shoulder from the oven. Cover it loosely with aluminum foil and let rest for at least 5 minutes. This allows the meat juices to distribute, which benefits the taste.
Then cut the meat into slices.

Grilling

The barbecue is also very suitable for cooking a pork shoulder. It can give a nice smoky flavor to the meat. We use a kamado ourselves, where you can easily regulate the temperature. Don’t have one of these? Then you need to create two heat zones: one for direct grilling and one for indirect grilling.

Thickly rub the pork shoulder with your favorite rub.
Take the pork shoulder out of the refrigerator an hour before you start.
First, we are going to grill the pork neck until it’s brown all over. We do this by grilling it directly over the coals. Place the meat on the grid and grill for 2 minutes on all sides, so that the meat browns all over.
Then prepare the barbecue for indirect grilling. Place the meat in an aluminum container and place it on the wire rack. Maintain a working temperature of about 125 °C.
The meat is ready when it has reached a core temperature of approximately 70 °C.
As soon as the core temperature has been reached, remove the pork shoulder from the barbecue. Cover it loosely with aluminum foil and let it rest for at least 5 minutes. This allows the meat juices to distribute, which benefits the taste.
Then cut the meat into slices.

Chapter 3

Recipe: Pulled Pork Bulgogi (Korean Style)

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Pulled Pork Bulgogi (Korean Style)

Korean Pulled Pork with a delicious bulgogi sauce.

Prep time1

Cooking time1

Resting time45

Author: Cultiviz

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Ingredients

2.5 kg pork shoulder
4 tbsp gochujang

Lettuce

small turkish sandwiches
hickory wood chips
Bulgogi sauce
250 ml soy sauce
150 ml sesame oil
125 grams of sugar
150 ml sake or dry sherry
10 garlic cloves finely chopped
10 spring onions the white and green parts
3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
3 tbsp ginger grated
3 tsp gochugaru or spicy paprika powder
1.5 tbsp black pepper
3 Asian pears peeled, cored and chopped

Coleslaw

160 gr mayonaise
160 g apple cider vinegar
200 gr red cabbage julienne cut into thin long strips
200 gr white cabbage julienne cut
2 apple julienne cut
2 red onion finely chopped

Instructions

Pat the pork dry with kitchen paper. Then put it in a casserole dish and smear all sides of the meat with gochujang. Cover it with aluminum foil and let it marinate in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.
Prepare the barbecue for indirect grilling. Maintain a temperature of about 100 °C. Meanwhile, place a handful of wood chips in a bowl of water and let them soak for 10 minutes. Then drain it.
When the barbecue is up to temperature, throw the wood chips on the coals. Place the meat on the grid and cook slowly to a temperature of 70 °C. This will take a while and you will probably have to refill the coals at some point.
When the meat has reached a core temperature of 70 °C, wrap it with aluminum foil. Make a cross for this. Lay a strip of aluminum foil horizontally and place another strip vertically on top of it. Place the meat in the center and wrap it. Then put the pork back on the barbecue. Cook the meat to a core temperature of about 92 °C.
Meanwhile, make the sauce. To do this, put all the ingredients in a food processor and grind everything finely. Then put it in a saucepan over medium heat. Turn to medium heat when it starts to boil. Let it simmer for about fifteen minutes. You want the sauce to thicken a bit. Turn off the heat and let it cool.
Remove the meat from the barbecue when it has reached a core temperature of 92°C and the meat feels tender. If not, let it cook for a few more minutes. Unfold the aluminum foil at the top and let the meat rest for 10 minutes. This allows some air to escape, if you don’t do this, the meat will continue to cook.
Then fold the aluminum foil again and let the meat rest for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the coleslaw. Mix the mayonnaise and apple cider vinegar in a large bowl and stir to a sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then add the red cabbage, white cabbage, apple and red onion and mix everything well.
Meanwhile, bake the buns in the oven according to the instructions on the package.
Pull the meat apart with meat claws or two large forks. Then spoon the sauce over it and mix everything well together.
Cut the buns in half and cover the bottom with butter lettuce. Then scoop the meat, the coleslaw and add the top of the bun on top. Enjoy your meal!