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SV Whole Pork Shoulder - How Should I Finish It?

Vijay_Nathan_35425

Hi ChefSteps folks! Just got my SVS a few days ago and started playing around with it. The grocery store had whole pork shoulder (fat cap + skin-on) on sale so I decided to try it out.

How I prepped it: Skin scored, salt & pepper + herbed coffee rub (from a friend's spice company)

How I'm cooking it: 20-24 hours at 72C

My questions: When I take the pork out of the sous vide, what should I do then? Should I shock it in an ice bath or just let it cool to room temp? Then, to crisp up the skin, what do you recommend? I'm thinking of drying it, then roasting it on a rack in a 500 degree F oven.

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Brendan_Lee_56950

Frying pork after a long sous vide process is amazing, just make sure you dry it thoroughly. If your just worried about crisping up the skin I would suggest taking it off as a separate piece and crisping it up separately. When I do porchetta I just drop the whole thing in the fryer until it gets nice and crispy and since your not looking to cook the food you can fry at a higher temp to get it nice and crispy.

Vijay_Nathan_35425

Brendan - Thanks very much. I've seen a couple of recipes that deep fry the whole thing and it looks amazing. If I don't want to deep fry (trying to keep things a little simpler tonight), would you recommend oven roasting or pan-searing? Taking off the fat-cap & skin is a great idea.

Mason_Perry_34060

If you have a heavy cast iron skillet or griddle try that with some high smoke point oil, just rotate about 60 seconds per side until everything is crisp. If not a high heat blast in the oven might work or if you have an electric broiler I would broil and rotate to get each side close to the broiler.

I just threw my pork butt into the circulator for carnitas tomorrow night, my pieces are small so I will quick fry them in peanut oil in my wok.

Post some pictures!

Vijay_Nathan_35425

Thanks Mason, will do!

seijoed

@Mason_Perry - they should pretty much break apart right in the bag, I crisp them up so I get that crackling/chicharron effect combined with the tender pork. - Enjoy

Mason_Perry_34060

I know its going to be hard to wait 24 hours! I love carnitas, we had it for Xmas this year!

Patrick_Ancillotti_6135

I deep fried some pork belly recently, and it came out wonderfully, and not at all greasy. Going to be deep frying my Lamb Rack to finish it too!

Mason_Perry_34060

How did it go? Where are the pictures?

Vijay_Nathan_35425

@Mason Thanks for the reminder! Down below are pics and here are the results and my takeaways:

Results

The pork was exceptionally tender but still had good texture (e.g. it didn't fall apart in a bad way)
The fat cap had become soft and gelatinous but hadn't melted away as much as I thought it would after that much cooking
The pork released a good amount of liquid, though that might also have been from some water leaking into the bag. Not sure, but either way it didn't seem to affect it.
After taking it out of the SVS, I shocked the pork (still in the bag) in a big bowl of ice water until cold then stored it in the fridge until dinner time.
For service, I took it out of the bag, dried it, and put it in a 500F oven for 15 minutes then under the broiler for 10, rotating frequently. The fat cap still hadn't rendered out enough for my taste so I took it off, put it back on a baking sheet and put it back in the oven at 500F to crisp up and eat on the side.
I shredded the pork and mixed it with a carolina vinegar sauce that I made.

For Next Time:

I'm not sure I would leave the fat cap on for the SV process. I don't think it did much and since I ended up taking it off anyway, it actually inhibited the dry rub from making contact with the meat
If I were to leave it on, I would not score it like I did this time. It was hard to handle after taking it out of the bag

Before:

https://instagram.com/p/UHb8GZsNH-/embed/

After:

Mason_Perry_34060

@Vijay Man that looks good! Im glad you had good results, would you share the vinegar sauce recipe or is it a secret? I made one about a month ago and it was WAY to vinegary.... but I am tired of sweet BBQ sauce with pork!

thanks for the pictures!

Vijay_Nathan_35425

@Mason Absolutely! No secrets in my kitchen. I'll warn you, we like a real tang over here so I did use a heavy vinegar component

I started with this recipe as a base (that guy is an awesome blogger BTW): http://www.meatwave.com/blog/barbecue-sauce-recipe-north-carolina-vinegar-sauce

My adjustments:

3/4 apple cider vinegar, 1/4 cup white vinegar
Added about 1/2 cup regular old yellow mustard
I used Frank's Red Hot since I didn't have Texas Pete's

Enjoy!

Mason_Perry_34060

Thanks! Ill be trying that soon. Carnitas came out AMAZING!. I preseared on the griddle and finished in some peanut oil! Better than the greasy spoon mexican restaurant we love to eat at! and best of all NOT greasy!

Vijay_Nathan_35425

@Mason Awesome! I love carnitas, one of my signature dishes, but I prefer to do it in the oven. The traditional method of carnitas is that it should be similar to confit - cooked in its own fat.