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Bruce's Garlic Roasted Pork




Source of Recipe


Bruce @ Low Carb Friends Site


Recipe Introduction


Level 1 ~ Pro/Fat.

This roast was very moist!


List of Ingredients




1 (5 pounds or larger) pork shoulder (or butt) roast
1 large head of garlic
salt
pepper

Recipe



I am going to edit Bruce's instructions, giving the basic instructions and then adding more after that:

Remove cloves of garlic and peel them. If they are large, cut in half.

Make slits with a paring knife, all over the roast, inserting 1 clove of garlic into each slit. Some may fall out as it's cooking - that's fine.

Salt and pepper the entire roast and place it into a small covered roasting pan, fat side up.

Roast for 1 hour. Remove and pour off juices. Roast for another 1/2 hour. Remove and flip it over. Pour off juices again if more have accumulated. Roast for another 1 hour -- total roasting time 2 1/2 - 3 hours.

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Now I will put in Bruce's complete recipe:

My mother has been making this recipe as long as I can remember and it's so simple to make. The key to this roast is to use the right cut of pork. You *must* use a very fatty cut of pork. A pork shoulder or pork butt, (same roast, different name) works perfectly for this. I usually prefer a boneless roast but a bone-in will work too. A pork loin or pork sirloin roast will *not* work. They're not nearly fatty enough and the end result will be extremely dry and pretty much inedible.

I usually buy the largest roast available. I start by separating and skinning an entire head of garlic. If some of the cloves are really large I cut them in half. One at a time, I insert the garlic cloves all over the roast by poking a hole in the roast with a boning knife or a paring knife and stuffing the clove inside. Try to keep the holes just large enough to get a finger in so the garlic will stay inside the roast better as it cooks. Some will still probably fall out but that's ok. I then thoroughly salt and pepper the entire roast and place it into a small covered roasting pan. I use one of the black enamel coated oval roasting pans that's just large enough to fit the roast. You can use a larger pan but if there's too much surface area on the bottom of the pan most of the accumulated juices will evaporate away. You can also cook it in an uncovered pan, but again, you won't have any juices. The roast will also brown and cook differently if uncovered. But it will still work. The roasting pan I'm referring to is very inexpensive and should be pretty easy to find. It's also the perfect size for roasting a chicken.

I roast it in a 400 degree oven for about 1 hour and then pour off all of the juices into a bowl to save for later. I cook it for another 1/2 hour or so and flip it over. I should include that I start the roast off with the fat cap side up. I then flip it over so that the fat side is down onto the bottom of the pan. If there's anymore juices I pour them into the bowl too. I usually roast it for about another hour so that the total cooking time is 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

It varies but the way I know it's done is when the roast is very well browned and the corners and edges are nice and crispy. It should be fall-apart-tender so that if you try to pick it up with tongs it will want to break into a couple of pieces. If it's not tender enough just cook it a little longer.

If it's getting to browned for your tastes, lower the temperature of the oven to 350. Provided you use a pork shoulder/butt roast, this recipe is really fool proof. The only other way to screw it up is to not cook it long enough. It comes out so moist and incredibly melt-in-your-mouth tender that it's hard to resist eating half of the roast or all of the crispy outside before you serve it.

I've made this roast countless times and it's nearly always come out fantastic. The only time it's not quite been perfect is when I was in a hurry and didn't cook it quite long enough. It was not as tender but it was still delicious. It doesn't really need a sauce at all but it's so good with a gravy made from the reserved juices.

If you weren't able to get any juices, or not as much as you wanted you can add about 1/2 cup of water or stock, (or whatever liquid you like) to the pan after the first hour and stir it around a little. This should remove most of the browned or extra thick juices from the pan. Pour them off after you get all you can from the pan and continue cooking as usual. I skim off most of the fat from the stock. You can place it into the freezer and the fat will rise to the surface and harden if you want. Sometimes the juices are very concentrated so I thin them with a small amount of water and them add some heavy cream. I stir it in a sauce pan and bring it to a boil. I thicken it with either not/Starch or I use egg yolks. I beat up several egg yolks in a large mixing bowl placed on top of a towel. This keeps it from sliding around while you whisk it rapidly. I use a ladle and slowly drizzle in some of the very hot liquid to the beaten yolks while whisking very rapidly. One or two ladles will do fine. This tempers the yolks. Then slowly add the yolk mixture back to the rest of the hot gravy while rapidly whisking the gravy. This should thicken it up quite a bit. If it's not as thick as you'd like it you can repeat the process until it is. Only use two or 3 egg yolks at first and if necessary, repeat with another couple of egg yolks at a time. This will make a very rich and delicious gravy. I adjust the seasoning but the original juice from the pan will already contain salt and pepper from the roast. Taste for yourself.

In an ideal world there would be low carb potatoes so that I could add them to the roasting pan like I used to or boil them separately and pour the gravy over the top of them along with the roast. This meal is so simple but it's easily the best meat dish I've ever eaten. That includes a lot of years of cooking both at home and professionally in many different restaurants. Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best. Enjoy and let me know how it turns out. Feel free to ask any more questions that you might have about this. Bruce

P.S. If you don't make a gravy from the juices or if you're going to use the roast in another recipe, like the crepe recipes I gave in another post, you can use the accumulated juices in place of chicken stock to make the sauce. Also, if you want you can save some of the fat that melts from the roast and sauté the onions and mushrooms in it instead of using olive oil. Yum!