Fall-off-the-Bone ROSEMARY, GARLIC, AND MUSTARD PORK ROAST

BY MONICA KASS ROGERS

Low and slow. There is no better way to cook a nice, big pork shoulder roast—one that you have marinated in a delicious rub of garlic, rosemary, mustard, and miso. At 250 degrees, the oven seems barely on. But as the hours pass, four … six … seven, the house fills with the most delicious aroma. And when you pull that roast from the oven and slice it, the meat falls off the bone, breaking up into tender morsels of savory goodness. Eaten that way, sauced with juices, and paired with vegetables, it’s irresistible. But you can also fill tacos with the meat as we like to do, adding some pickled onion and cotija cheese crumbles on top.

To make this roast, we used a sevenpound, bone-in, pork shoulder (also known as pork butt) with the fat cap scored, searing it for 20 minutes at 450 degrees and then turning it down to 250 degrees and roasting uncovered for the remainder of the time. If using a smaller-than-seven-pound roast, start checking for fall-off-the-bone tenderness at the four-hour mark. If larger than seven pounds—say, in the nine-to-10-pound range, you’ll roast from 8 to 10 hours. Recipe adapted from Katie Workman, with kudos to Tyler Wolff-Ormes for the idea of adding miso to the marinade.

serves 12

INGREDIENTS

FOR PORK ROAST

• 7 lb. bone-in pork butt roast, with fat cap on

• 4 large sprigs rosemary, divided (You will remove stems from two of the sprigs, mincing leaves to make 3 Tbsp. Save two remaining sprigs to place on top of roast)

• 3 Tbsp minced garlic (7 or 8 cloves)

• 1 Tbsp white miso paste

• 1 Tbsp anchovy paste

• 1 tsp Kosher salt

• 2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

• ¼ cup olive oil

• 3 Tbsp country Dijon (coarsely ground) mustard

FOR TACOS

• 1 package fresh corn tortillas

• 3 cups shredded pork from roast recipe

• 1 cup pickled onion

• 1 cup crumbled cotija cheese

• Fresh cilantro, optional

• Hot sauce, optional

Method

MAKE MARINADE

In the bowl of a food processor, combine garlic, miso, and anchovy pastes with minced rosemary, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Pulse to create a paste, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. Stir in mustard. Pat pork roast dry. Place in a large Dutch oven, fat side up. Using a very sharp knife, score fat in a diamond pattern. Rub roast all over with the marinade. Place two remaining sprigs of rosemary on top. Cover and refrigerate roast for 2 to 24 hours. (Note: We marinated the full, 24 hours)

ROAST PORK

Remove Dutch oven from refrigerator to bring roast up to room temperature. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place pork in preheated oven for 20 minutes to brown the top. Reduce heat to 250 degrees and continue to roast for 7 to 8 hours, until a meat thermometer slides into the roast with no resistance and registers 180°. Remove roast from oven and allow to rest for 20 minutes before slicing, or shredding. Note: Slices will break up into tender pieces.

MAKE TACOS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Wrap tortillas in foil and heat in oven until tortillas are soft and warm. Fill tacos with shredded or chopped pork. Top with cheese, pickled onion, cilantro and hot sauce (if using.) Serve hot.