Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I am using ATK's Pork Shoulder with Peach Sauce recipe. The recipe calls for a 6-8 lb roast, and uses a 5-6 hour roast time on a room temp roast to get a 190 degree product when done.

I have a 2 1/4 lb pork shoulder. What do you think I should estimate as it's roasting time to get to 190?

Also, the recipe calls for resting for one hour. Is this correct do you think? I found the recipe on the Slate site, not the ATK or CI site. That just seems like a long roast time.

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

Lynn

Am I correct in assuming you're dealing with a boneless shoulder? (gee, kind of sounds like me three years ago when I shattered mine...)

Amy

Light Bulb,
Out of practice, so I am sure someone else will come along and correct. I think(remember-out of practice) that collagen starts breaking down around 122 or so, so you want to hold the roast in the lower range for as long as possible to get the fatty parts to melt). The suggested temp of *325 for 5-6 hours is much too long, I would think. I'd lower the heat..like 275, maybe lower, and slow down the cooking, as your roast is much smaller.

my .02

I did one last week -- mine was about 4 pounds. I kind of followed CI, but frankly 325 is not slow roasting to me. I took the temp down to 275 and it took about 5 hours--although at that low a temperature, it's really flexible. At 325 I would guess 3-4 hours. Also, I'm not sure why they suggest 1 hour resting time; I let mine rest about 15 minutes and it was just fine.

I would agree to turn it down. You can probably count on about 1 to 1 1/2 hours per pound. Your roast will likely plateau at around 160 degrees, but be patient, and it will eventually get up to temp. I think they likely tell you to rest it for an hour for the sliceablity (is that a word?) of the roast. A little longer rest time will make it easier to get slices that hold together.

Amy

I'd agree with the sliceability pointer but if you're not fussy, which I'm not - in fact I like the clumps it kind of falls apart into as I think of it as a rustic dish --I don't think it needs a long resting period. And boy, do you know, you're not eating a pork loin roast. The flavor is wonderful. You should, by the way, use a bone-in shoulder.

Agreed, which is why I asked if it was boneless.

Amy

Thank you gals. I just put it in the oven at 325. I'll turn it down to 275 after about 30 mins as I am behind the time curve for dinner tonight at this point.

I did not think to turn down the heat, I like that idea, thanks. Unfortunately, it is a boneless roast. I am very particular on what pork I buy and they did not have a bone in piece today at my market.

I am making an apple ginger sauce instead of peach with thyme. I only had one cup of dry white so I subbed another 3/4 cup of water with 1/4 cup of Captain Morgan's spiced rum. Added black peppercorns and grated ginger.

I'll report in later.

At 6:05 it's 171. That's after 3 hours.

I just turned the oven up to 325. I had it set to 275 and I think it ends up on the cool side of that.

Please taste the rum beforehand to ensure it has not gone bad . . .