slo maple roast pork
8 pound skin-on pork shoulder roast
3 tablespoons fennel seeds
5 tbsp minced garlic
3 tablespoons kosher salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup maple syrup
2 teaspoons malt vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
the rub Preheat oven to 450. Toast fennel seeds in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant (happens fast.) Remove from heat and spin in coffee grinder or crush using mortar and pestle. Set aside. Place garlic and salt in a bowl and grind together to make a paste. Slowly add olive oil, then sprinkle in cayenne, black pepper, fennel, mustard. Set aside.
assembling the roast Place the pork roast skin side up on a cutting board. Score surface of the skin. Turn the pork over into a roast pan skin side down. Rub 1/3 of the paste over the skin-less side of the meat. Add maple syrup and vinegar into the 2/3 remaining paste.Set aside.
4 easy steps
1) Place the roast on rack in the bottom third of the oven and cook for 30 minutes at 450.
2) Remove the roast from the oven and turn it down to 225. Carefully flip the shoulder over in the pan so it is skin side up.
3) Spread the remaining paste over the roast, pushing it into the scored skin. Return the roast to the oven.
4) Cook for 9-12 hours taking care to baste 2-3 times.
Serve on ciabatta buns with citrus cabbage coleslaw. I often make this after dinner, cook it overnight - and the roast is ready for the team to eat at lunchtime. NOTE This recipe is a take on a recipe post on Food52 in 2010. See that recipe here
