This boneless roasted Pork Shoulder is brined overnight. Then it gets slowly-roasted covered until the meat gets really tender. It's flavored with orange and balsamic vinegar. The resume? An utterly delicious and juicy piece of meat!

Table Of Contents

How To Make It Tender And Flavorful
How Long To Roast Pork Shoulder
Cooking Time According To Weight Of Meat
Adding Potatoes
Recipe

Roasted Pork Shoulder is one of the best roasts to serve during feasts and holidays. In Greece, we serve it mostly during Christmas. In fact, that's what's traditionally served throughout the years until the Christmas turkey tradition came along.

Still, most people in Greece, serve pork on Christmas.

How To Make It Tender And Flavorful

To make the meat turn out tender and flavorful you need to a). brine the pork and b). slow-roast it covered. Brine adds flavor and softens the meat. Especially when it contains a good amount of wine like in this recipe.

Slow-roasting the meat covered, ensures you tenderize the meat on the inside before roasting its outer skin. Plus when the meat is covered all the flavors you add to the pan get locked in and flavor the meat to its core.

How Long To Roast Pork Shoulder

Unlike other recipes that pork gets roasted for up to 6 hours in this recipe the roasting time is cut down to a minimum. So in this roasted pork shoulder recipe, the meat is cooked for about 2 and a half hours. It gets slow-roasted covered for 2 hours and then uncovered for about 25 minutes.

Can I Use Bone-In Pork Shoulder Instead?

You sure can! It will result in even more tender and juicy meat. Though more difficult in cutting and serving. 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 3kg piece of meat for the same amount of portions.

Cooking Time According To Weight Of Meat

If you are planning on using a bigger piece of meat you will need to adjust the cooking time a bit. For every extra kilogram (1 kilogram =2.2 pounds) of meat add about half an hour extra of slow-roasting. Uncovered roasting time remains the same.

Brining The Pork

The pork should be brined at least overnight. Though you can leave it in the brine for up to 24 hours. It will get even more flavorful.

Adding Potatoes

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

To give extra flavor to the potatoes use some of the pork fat instead of adding extra fat to them (full instructions are given in the recipe below).

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.

Side dishes to serve with roasted pork shoulder:

If you won't be cooking the potatoes together with the pork you can make any of the following potatoes as a side to this dish.

Salads that are great to serve with:

Recipe

Roasted Pork Shoulder (brined + orange flavored)

A scrumptious Roasted Pork Shoulder that gets slow-roasted covered, flavored with orange and balsamic vinegar.

4.88 from 8 votes

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Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Greek

Keyword: dairy-free, Oven baked, Pork

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 2 25

Servings: servings

Calories: 705kcal

Equipment

1 x Roasting Pan

Ingredients

2 kg / 4.4 pound Pork Shoulder Boneless
3-4 sprigs of thyme
3-4 sprigs of sage
100 ml red wine
1 orange juiced don't discard the cups
2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
55 ml fresh orange juice

For The Brine:

4 cups (1 liter) lukewarm water
1 ½ cups (750 ml) white wine
4 tablespoons kosher salt
6 allspice berries
6 cloves
5 bay leaves
6-7 peppercorns
1 stick of cinnamon
2-3 sprigs of thyme

For The Rub:

20 grams / 0.7 oz Grape molasses (or pomegranate molasses)
1 teaspoon Balsamic vinegar
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon garlic powder
⅔ teaspoon mustard powder
1 teaspoon dried marjoram or thyme instead

For The Potatoes (optional):

800 grams / 28 oz potatoes peeled and cut into 5 cm pieces (2-inch)
1 teaspoon dried marjoram

Instructions

Brine The Pork (the night before):

If the pork shoulder has a thick skin of fat, remove some but not all of it with a meat knife. Unless you want the crackling on top. In this case, score the fatty skin on the top surface of the meat creating criss-cross lines.
Place the pork in a large glass or plastic bowl that fits it. It shouldn't be much wider than the meat because we want it to sink in the brine. Add all of the seasonings as well except the salt.
Dissolve the salt in the 1 liter of lukewarm water. Then pour it into the bowl with the pork. Pour the wine in as well.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or its lid and place in the fridge overnight.

Cook The Pork:

The next day, remove the pork from the brine. Pat it dry with paper towels.
Preheat oven to 160°C / 320°F.
Place the pork in a roasting pan with a lid. Or use a plain baking pan instead. One that's slightly bigger than the pork.
In a small bowl combine all of the ingredients for the rub. And then rub it all over the top surface and sides of the meat.
Add the sprigs of thyme and sage to the pan. Pour in the pan the red wine and orange juice. Add also the orange cups to the pan.
If you are using a roasting pan with a lid, put the lid on. If using a plain pan, cut a big piece of parchment paper and cover the pan with it. Add a piece or two of aluminum foil on top as well and secure the edges well.
Place the pan in the oven and slow-roast for 2 hours.
Meanwhile, if you wish to cook the potatoes as well, boil them in some salted water for 10 minutes. Then remove them and set them aside in a bowl.
Remove the pan from the oven without uncovering it.
Raise the oven's temperature to 220°C / 428°F. Wait for 10 minutes.
Uncover the pork. Carefully remove most of the liquid from the pan and add it to a bowl. Leaving only a very thin layer that covers the surface of the pan.
NOTE: Do not discard the parchment paper and aluminum foil cover.
Place the potatoes all around the pork.
Using a tablespoon skim off some fat that has risen on the surface of the pork liquid you just drained.
Drizzle this fat over the potatoes. About 6-7 tablespoons of it.
Season the potatoes very lightly with table salt and pepper. And also the 1 teaspoon of dried marjoram.
Place the pan back in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl mix together the 2 tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon of honey, and 55 ml of fresh orange juice.
Remove the pan from the oven. Drizzle ½ of this mixture all over the pork.
Place pan back in the oven Roast for 6 minutes more. Then remove the pan from the oven once more and drizzle the meat with the remaining ½ of the mixture.
Roast for 6 minutes more. Then remove the pan from the oven. Carefully transfer the pork shoulder to a serving plate using two large spatulas. Or use the parchment paper and aluminum foil cover to gently grab hold of it and transfer it. And then use it to cover the meat again.
If you aren't making the potatoes simply cover the meat inside the pan again either with its lid or the parchment paper and aluminum foil cover.
Let the meat rest for 30 minutes like that.
Drop the oven's temperature to 200°C / 392°F.
Place the pan with the potatoes back in the oven and roast the potatoes until nice and crispy on the edges. If you wish, toss and squeeze them with a spatula to make them even crisper.
Cut thin slices of the pork and serve along with the potatoes. Enjoy!

Nutrition

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Roasted Pork Shoulder (brined + flavored with orange)

How To Make It Tender And Flavorful