Smoked and Slow Cooked Pork Butt with Apple Gravy

Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder with Savory Apple Gravy Recipe

· Prep time: 20 minutes (plus marinate for two days, overnight min)

· Cook time: 3 hours, 30 minutes

· Yield: Serves 6-8 with leftovers.

The pork shoulder should be marinated in the rub overnight or up to two days.

Ingredients

· 6-8 pounds boneless pork shoulder

· 1 Tbsp fennel seeds, toasted

· 2 teaspoons black peppercorns

· 2 Tbsp packed, fresh thyme leaves, lightly chopped, or 1 Tbsp dried thyme

· 2 Tbsp fresh rosemary leaves, lightly chopped

· 4 medium garlic cloves, minced

· 2 teaspoons Kosher salt, plus more for seasoning

· Olive oil

· 4 medium good cooking apples, such as Fuji or Jonagold

· 1 medium yellow onion

· 1/2 cup (120 ml) dry white wine (can sub water)

· 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

· Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1 Put the fennel seeds, peppercorns, thyme and rosemary leaves, garlic and 2 teaspoons salt into a spice grinder or coffee grinder and grind to a paste. Alternatively, you can pound the mixture with a mortar and pestle. Put the mixture into a bowl and stir in 2 tablespoons olive oil.

2 Rub the mixture evenly all over the pork shoulder. If the roast is tied, untie it to rub the inside with the rub mixture as well, then retie it. Wrap the roast tightly in plastic wrap to hold the rub against the skin and marinate overnight (or up to two days).

3 Peel, halve, and core the apples. Cut each apple half into about 4 wedges. Peel the onions. Cut in half from tip to root. Trim the root and tip. Cut each onion half into about 12 thin wedges. Put the onions and the apples together in a bowl and toss to mix.

4 Preheat grill to 400°F add smoking wood just before placing butt inside.

5 Toss the apples and onions with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper. Place the apples and onions in the bottom of a roasting pan or Dutch oven with a cover. Place the marinated pork shoulder on top of the apples and onions.

6 Roast uncovered for 1 hour. Preheat crockpot remove dutch oven from grill and add ingredients to crock pot in same order as in dutch oven. Cover the crockpot and slow roast for to 3-4 hours until the pork shoulder is falling apart tender and pulls apart easily when probed with a fork. (The extra step of moving to a crockpot is to free up oven for other goodies)

7 Serve the pork shoulder from the crockpot and cover to keep warm.

8 Gravy - Put the apples and onions into a blender. Add about 1/2 cup water and the mustard and purée. Check the texture, and add water until you get the desired thickness for the gravy. Press through a sieve for a silky smooth textured gravy. Check the seasoning and correct to taste.

Urban Cowgill 2015