Roasted Pork Shoulder (brined + flavored with orange)

Slow-roasted pork shoulder with potatoes on the sides. A delicious flavor mix of orange, balsamic, mustard, and herbs. This juicy and tender pork shoulder roast is the best holiday dinner!

And I still haven't told you what makes it the best. It's the brine! Yes, this oven-roasted pork shoulder gets brined overnight. So you get a piece of meat tenderized and seasoned to its core.

This makes all the difference since pork is a meat that usually dries up when you bake it. And brine locks moisture into the meat keeping it soft.

Table Of Contents

• Greek Christmas Pork
• Brining Pork Shoulder
• Slow Cooking
• How Long To Cook Pork Shoulder In Oven
• How To Roast Pork Shoulder
• Adding Potatoes Or Veggies
• Recipe

Greek Christmas Pork

In Greece, we serve this pork shoulder roast recipe mostly on Christmas or around the holidays. In fact, that's what was traditionally served throughout the years on Christmas day, until the Christmas turkey tradition came along.

Though still, most people in Greece, serve pork on Christmas. Together with other traditional Greek Christmas dishes like pies, breads, and Avgolemono.

Brining Pork Shoulder

Brined pork shoulder is much more flavorful and tender than non-brined. The brine helps to season the meat all the way to its core (while a marinade seasons mostly the surface). Brining pork shoulder is almost essential especially when it's a large piece of meat and the seasonings can't reach the center.

The brine for pork shoulder is made of water, white wine, kosher salt, and seasonings like peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, allspice berries, cinnamon, and thyme.

This pork shoulder brine is a simple one, with warm spice flavors. If you wish you can toss in 2-3 garlic cloves as well. Or swap the white wine for red if you want a stronger flavor.

TIP: You can toast the seasonings for the brine in a frying pan before adding them to the brine. This will enhance their aromas.

You can brine the pork in the fridge overnight or for up to 2 days before cooking.

Slow Cooking

Slowly cooking pork shoulder in oven covered, is the best way to cook pork shoulder. Because it ensures the meat gets tender on the inside before roasting its outer skin. Plus, when you cover the meat all the flavors you add to the pan are trapped inside. And by slow-cooking they have the time to penetrate into the meat.

To slow-cook pork shoulder in oven use either a roasting pan with a lid or use a plain pan with a DIY cover. To cover the pan if it doesn't have a lid simply use some parchment paper and aluminum foil on top.

Then allow it to cook slowly at a low temperature for a couple of hours before uncovering the meat and roasting it.

How Long To Cook Pork Shoulder In Oven

Cooking time depends on the weight of the meat. For this recipe, we use a 4.4-pound (2 kg) piece of meat and bake it for 2 hours + 25 minutes of roasting.

If you are planning on using a bigger piece of meat you will need to adjust the cooking time.

For every extra kilogram (1 kilogram =2.2 pounds) of meat add about 30 minutes extra baking time. Uncovered roasting time remains the same.

How To Roast Pork Shoulder

After slow-cooking pork shoulder in oven, it's time to roast it! To give it a nice brown color on top. For this to happen we need to uncover the meat (obviously), and raise the oven temperature.

In this recipe, we also baste the meat with a mixture of orange juice, honey, and balsamic vinegar to add extra flavor and color.

So the process goes like this: roast for 10 minutes. Baste, roast for 6 minutes, baste, and roast for 6 minutes more. At this point, the pork should look nicely browned. But if it isn't as much as you like you can roast it for a few minutes more.

NOTE: Due to the cooking method and basting, this oven-slow-roasted pork doesn't get crispy on top.

Pork Shoulder Or Pork Butt?

Both cuts come from the same primal cut on the shoulders. So they can be used interchangeably in pork shoulder butt recipes. They have very minor differences mostly regarding the fat content and distribution.

For example, pork shoulder is more lean and the fat is mostly on the surface while pork butt contains fat within its muscles. This means that pork shoulder is ideal for roasts (especially if you want crispy skin on top).

While pork butt is more tender. Therefore, roast pork butt in the oven is equally good and may turn out even more moister than roast pork shoulder.

Can I Use Bone-In Pork Shoulder?

You sure can! It will result in even more tender and juicy meat. Though more difficult to cut and serve. Also, make sure you adjust the weight. For instance, this recipe calls for 2 Kg (4.4 pounds) of boneless pork shoulder. If you want to use bone-in pork shoulder go for a 3 kg piece of meat for the same amount of portions.

Adding Potatoes Or Veggies

You can add potatoes and cook them together with the pork. To do this you need to boil them first for a few minutes until they get a bit soft. Then add them to the pan with the pork right when it's time to uncover the pork and roast it.

To give extra flavor to the potatoes use some of the pork fat (as instructed in the recipe below).

If you don't want to add potatoes you can toss some veggies and roast together with pork. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, pumpkin or squash, and even yams all pair nicely with roasted pork. Just cut them into florets or cubes, mix them with some seasonings (such as oregano, thyme, marjoram, garlic powder, onion powder), and roast them!

SERVE WITH 🠳

This roast pork shoulder is great to serve with a red wine reduction sauce. Especially if you are serving it on a special occasion this sauce will make this roast even more special.

Recipe