Martha Stewart's Slow-Cooker Italian-Braised Pork Shoulder Recipe on Food52 (2024)

FAQs

Do I have to brown pork shoulder before slow cooking? ›

Preparing the pork

I prefer to season the meat before adding it to the slow cooker with my favourite spices, along with salt and pepper. I also recommend browning the meat slightly prior to slow cooking which will help maximise the flavour. However, this is a step that can be left out if you don't have enough time.

Your liquid should not cover your pork in the slow cooker: it should only come up about a quarter of the way up the sides. The pork will make more liquid as it cooks, and you need to leave room for that. And 10 hours later, this huge hunk of meat is tender and ready.

Crock Pot Pulled Pork: I prefer the oven, which yields a nice crispy exterior; however, the slow cooker gives you really tender and juicy meat as well. Place the pork in a Crock Pot and prepare as directed in the recipe. Cover and cook on LOW for 10-12 hours or on HIGH for 6-7 hours.

Sear Before You Slow Cook

Before sticking the pork directly in the slow cooker, cut it into quarters, pat the meat dry with a paper towel, and season each piece thoroughly with salt and pepper. Sear each piece in a cast-iron skillet with oil just until the exterior is evenly browned.

Close the Proofer and allow the pork to cook for a total of 10 or 11 hours. Midway during the slow cook process you can turn the pork over once. After 10 hours check the interior of the pork with a thermometer. We recommend a temperature of 195-200 °F / 90-93 °C for tender, juicy pork which pulls apart easily.

The Slow Cooker as a Tool for Braising

You can even leave your house. Set the cooker to low; the high setting will boil the meat instead of braise it, so it's only a quicker trip to an undesirable outcome. Pork shoulder self-bastes and stays moist, and is nearly impossible to overcook.

Transfer everything to a large slow cooker and add a splash of liquid — water is great, but so is broth, apple juice, or beer if you have them handy. Cover and cook on low until the meat is tender and pulls apart easily.

Spritzing is mainly used to keep the pork moist, but because there is already so much fat on the pork shoulder, you may be unable to tell the difference in flavor in the end. The measuring combination of my spritzer is: 1 cup apple juice. ½ cup apple cider vinegar.

The meat was overcooked: Slow cookers are known for their ability to tenderize meat, but if the meat is cooked for too long, it can become overcooked and tough. It's important to follow the recommended cooking time for your recipe to ensure that the meat is cooked to the correct doneness.

Pork shoulder benefits from long, slow cooking that tenderizes the meat and melts the fat. The best cooking methods for pork shoulder are braising or stewing, but it may also be fried, baked, or made into ground pork.

How long is too long to slow cook pork shoulder? ›

While it's hard to overcook a tough and fatty cut like pork shoulder when it's on low in a slow cooker, it will eventually become dry as more liquid evaporates. For best results, cook it in a small amount of liquid and don't cook it for more than 10 or 11 hours for best results.

I always try to leave no more than an eighth of an inch of fat when preparing pork for slow cooking. sure, if you want to remove most of the pork flavor which comes from the fat. Just leave it on, and cut or pour it off after it cooks down.

Both come from the shoulder of the pig, but pork butt is higher on the foreleg, while pork shoulder is farther down. As relatively tough and fatty cuts, both benefit from long, slow cooking methods such as roasting, stewing, and braising. But the cuts are different enough that we generally prefer pork butt.

Unlike the more lean tenderloin and chops, pork shoulder is an incredibly forgiving cut of meat. It becomes more tender as it cooks and benefits from a lengthy cook time, so even if it stays on the heat a few minutes too long, you won't suddenly end up with something dry or rubbery.

Browning Is Better

And if you dredge the meat in flour before you brown it, your sauce will thicken up to make a gravy. You should always brown ground beef or any ground meat in a skillet before adding it to your slow cooker to prevent the meat from clumping up or from adding excess grease to your cooked dish.

Searing meat before slow cooking adds flavor through caramelization, but it's not mandatory. If you skip searing, you might miss some depth of flavor, but the slow cooker will still cook the meat thoroughly.

Searing over high heat caramelizes the surface of the meat, which enhances the savory 'meat' flavor and fills the finished dish with complex layers of nutty caramel and coffee-like bitterness. In technical terms, this is called a Maillard reaction and it's a flavor profile we omnivores happen to find quite delicious.