Pork Shoulder Recipes

On Man vs. Food and Man vs. Food Nation, Adam Richman travels around the US eating huge quantities of hearty food. One of his favorite dishes, the Caribbean-style pork roast at Minneapolis’s Brasa, is as filling as anything he eats on TV. Served with a citrusy mojo and a garlicky cilantro mayonnaise, it’s a great dish for a crowd.

Pork shoulder is often braised or smoked, but Andrew Green, wine director for the Bacchus Management Group (which includes Spruce in San Francisco), rubs it with garlic and herbs, then slow-roasts the meat until it's juicy and crusty.

The trick to this luscious pork from Jessica Koslow of Sqirl in Los Angeles is browning the meat first, then wrapping it in heavy-duty foil to roast.

Chef Jose Enrique’s version of the Puerto Rican classic pernil is extra-flavorful because he marinates the pork in lime and orange juices, as well as plenty of garlic, before roasting until the meat is caramelized and crispy. It can be carved, shredded or pulled into large pieces for serving.

Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo—the guys behind the Food Network show Two Dudes Catering—have a philosophy that guides them, whether they're cooking for the X Games or for their new Los Angeles restaurant, Animal: Use a big cut of meat, preferably pork, and serve it with a killer sauce.

This cut takes a long time to cook, but the prep is minimal and the results are outstanding: supercrispy skin and meltingly tender meat.

Peter Hoffman created this dish especially for Food & Wine's Glass House dinner. He wanted to cook a fabulous pork shoulder with an intense spice rub and serve it with an assortment of vegetables that mark the crossover moment between summer and autumn: romano beans, cranberry beans and oven-roasted tomatoes. A garnish of gremolata (chopped lemon zest, parsley and garlic) adds fresh flavor to the slow-cooked meat.

Roy Choi slathers his pork shoulder with a powerful marinade of garlic, citrus and herbs, then lets it sit overnight before roasting the meat until crispy. If you're using the roasted meat for sandwiches, Choi recommends refrigerating it first, which makes it easier to slice.

At 5 Ninth, Zak Pelaccio makes this dish with suckling pig, not pork shoulder, but "basically," he says, "pig with honey is a combination of flavors that I enjoy."

Inspired by the retro combination of ham and pineapple, Jean-Georges Vongerichten created this twist by mixing the pineapple with vinegar for a sweet-sour effect, and marinating pork shoulder with hot paprika and Sriracha chile sauce. "Chile is my condiment of choice: A little here, a little there, makes the food sing," he says.

Porchetta can be found at weekly markets in the country towns around Foligno: whole roasted young pigs seasoned with fiore di finocchio (Umbrian wild fennel pollen) and sold either sliced and stuffed into panini (small round buns) for a snack or bought by the kilo to take home for lunch. Rather than a whole pig, Salvatore Denaro slow-roasts pork shoulder with similar seasonings (pork belly is equally delicious when roasted for 1 hour at 400 degrees).

In their charcuterie on Beaune's pedestrian shopping street, Roger and Josette Batteault sell not only sausages, hams, pates, terrines and savory pastries, but fresh pork too, which Josette cooks in clever and delicious ways. Jane Sigal was awed by her efficiency (she browns the onion in the casserole with the pork to save time) and by her ability to coerce so much flavor out of a piece of meat, a few herbs and vegetables and a little water.

This marinated bone-in pork shoulder should be one of the first things to go on the grill, so it has plenty of time to roast slowly. The total time will vary depending on the heat of the fire, the temperature outside and the meat's distance from the heat; to speed things up, you can cover the grill, leaving the air vents open. To determine doneness, use a meat thermometer. The pork is ready when the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.

Pork shoulder is a succulent cut that's best braised or roasted slowly, so it stays tender and juicy. The sweet-and-savory glazed pork here is terrific with or without the garlic-and-dried-apricot stuffing.

This rich base of browned pork shoulder and spicy chili garlic sauce makes this congee porridge extra flavorful and hearty.

Mario Batali creates a simple version of Italian porchetta, wrapping butterflied pork shoulder around a sausage-and-fennel stuffing before roasting.

Chef Vic Casanova flavors house-made pasta with cocoa to serve with his luscious pork ragu. The inspiration: traditional Italian recipes like this one, in which a little cocoa powder deepens the savory flavor of a meaty sauce.

Legendary chef Jacques Pepin sears pork shoulder to make a terrific crust, then braises it slowly with stock, wine, chestnuts and sweet potatoes until it's meltingly tender.

Chef Jorge Guzman’s Yucatecan-influenced black beans with pork get an extra depth of flavor from charred onion and garlic as well as dried epazote, a Mexican herb with notes of camphor, mint, and citrus.

Citrus, garlic, and chile infuse pork shoulder in chef Andrew Zimmern’s take on Colombian tamales. The marinade also perks up the masarepa dough. Instead of corn husks, these tamales are traditionally wrapped and steamed in banana leaves.

Slow-cooking pork shoulder in milk creates succulent meat and a silky, caramelized sauce. Unless the dairy curdles. What to do? A pinch of baking soda works as a stabilizer. Serve with crusty bread.


Sam Jacobson of the Stargazy bakeshop in Philadelphia delivers both sausage roll and fruit pie in these traditional spiced half-and-half pastries from eastern England. Fun fact: Bedfordshire residents are nicknamed “Clangers” after this sweet and savory specialty.

This deeply flavorful curry is one of the many delicious staff meals prepared by chef Katianna Hong at The Charter Oak restaurant in St. Helena, California. She likes to make it using ingredients from the Napa Valley, like white wine, citrus leaves and spices. Hong also weaves in her own tastes, incorporating Southeast Asian and Indian flavors. She makes the curry with pork stock, but a rich chicken stock is nice, too.