Pork Shoulder isn’t just for pulled pork or cooking in the smoker. It really lends itself to a slow oven roast (or slow cooker) on a bed of onions and apples.

I’ve adapted this from Long Way on a Little by Farmer Shannon Hayes (Sap Bush Hollow Farm, NY).

Growing up my parents didn’t really know how to properly cook with onions. As I’ve worked on improving my cooking skills I discovered that onions needs some love and some heat to really be enjoyed. Some heat to soften them up and bring out the sweetness.

Pork goes with apples and onions pretty much all the time. Heck even pigs like apples although they don’t care for onions. Anyways….. back to the recipe.

As you can see this roast is BIG- it’s a 5 1/2 pound bone in Pork Butt Roast. Butt does NOT refer to the buttocks of the pig it’s actually part of the shoulder. I will not get into the reasoning for this odd and totally confusing name, at least not now I’m hungry.

You can certainly do a smaller roast if you have to.

This was roasted in the oven but a slow cooker would work. I have NOT done this particular recipe in the InstaPot, if you do I would suggest you caramelize the onions first using the saute feature. I slow roasted in the oven so skipped that step.

Recipe

1 Pork Butt Roast- it comes from the shoulder and you could use a shoulder roast too.

3-4 pounds.

2 pounds onions, peeled and sliced thin

5-6 baking apples (go for tart if you can, if not wing it with what you have) Scrubbed but not peeled and quartered

Some salt and Pepper.

Place roast on a bed of onions and apples in your roasting pan. Sprinkle with a tablespoon or so of coarse salt and a couple teaspoons or so of black pepper. See? Simple.

Roast at 250-300F (not all ovens will work well at 250F- mine won’t but it needs replacing)

6—7 Until fall apart tender. Smaller roasts will only take 3-4 hours.

Instant pot- yes!

You need liquid for the instant pot. I used 1 cup chicken broth and 1 cup apple cider.

Use the Saute setting, once hot, add a few tablespoons of olive oil or lard, add the onions stir to prevent sticking and burning. Once they are nice golden brown, remove, then sear the roast on all sides, adding more olive oil or lard as needed. Remove. Turn off, add 1/2 cup of chicken stock to deglaze the pan, scraping to loosen up all the browned bits. Add in remainder of chicken stock and cider, apples, onions. Use the meat setting and set it to 90 minutes for a 4 pound roast.

**the instant pot directions say 15 minutes per pound and I find that with really good pasture raised pork it’s more like 20 minutes per pound.**

once it beeps as done, let it naturally release the pressure. This can take about 15-20 minutes and is important for a tender fall apart roast. Check to see if the roast is tender. If not it needs another 5-10 minutes of press. Remove roast to a platter, tent to keep warm. Press Saute button and reduce the liquid down to what you would like. Stir often. Slice roast- or pull apart as it will be very tender. Pour the sauce, apples and onions over meat at serving.

Leftovers make excellent warm sandwiches, added to soups, stirfry, added to a green salad. I reheat with some liquid in a covered casserole in the oven at 300F. Sorry I don’t have a microwave!