1 (8-10 pound) bone-in pork shoulder, make sure it fits into your slow-cooker. Cut to fit if necessary.
1/2 cup frozen 100% orange juice concentrate
1/3 cup lime juice (fresh squeezed or bottled)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
8 whole peeled cloves fresh garlic (or 1 Tablespoon granulated dried garlic)
1 Tablespoon (or more, to taste) ground cumin
1 Tablespoon dry oregano leaves
1 Tablespoon or more fresh ground pepper
2 teaspoons kosher or sea salt
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
if available, 2 stems (no leaves, just stems) fresh cilantro |
Drizzle the olive oil in the slow-cooker bowl. Remove the pork shoulder from packaging and rinse with cold water. Place untrimmed pork, fat side down in the bowl. Fat side down. …Then flip it fat side up. This coats both sides with a wee bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, cumin, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. Use a spoon to dollop the frozen orange juice concentrate over the top of the roast. Pour the lime juice around the edges of the roast. Throw garlic cloves around the roast. Toss on cilantro stems- if using. Cover, and turn cooker to ‘HIGH’. Allow to cook for 1 hour, turn the heat to ’LOW’ and continue cooking for another 12 hours or until meat falls apart when prodded with a fork.
When the meat is tender, turn off slow cooker and place the slow cooker bowl in the fridge. (If your slow-cooker doesn’t have a removable insert, transfer the contents to a large container with a tight-fitting lid and pop that into the fridge. Use a spoon to remove the congealed fat from around the pork shoulder. Discard the fat. Transfer pork shoulder to a large cutting board, preferably one with a groove to catch juices. Otherwise, keep the paper towels handy! Let sit while attending to the pan juices.
Pour the cooking juices that surrounded the pork through a fine mesh strainer positioned over a saucepan. Turn the heat under the saucepan to high and reduce the juices to 1/4 of the starting volume. Set aside. Set aside until pork is fully shredded.
Pull the bone out of the pork and discard. Scrape as much fat as you can from the outside of the pork shoulder. Pull large chunks of the shoulder apart. It should naturally come apart at places where there is additional fat you can remove. Take as much of the fat out as you can without wasting meat. Using your hands -or two forks- shred the meat into small pieces.
When pork is fully shredded (and chopped, if desired) transfer to a 9″ x 13″ baking dish with sides. Pour the reduced pan juices over the pork and toss. Tightly cover the pan with foil. If you plan on serving it immediately, put into a preheated 350 degree F oven and heat for 25 minutes, or until hot all the way through. If you are preparing this ahead of time you can either place the pan directly into the freezer or into the fridge.
To reheat from chilled: Place, still covered in foil, in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, or until heated through.
To heat from frozen: Place, still covered in foil, in a preheated 350 degree F for 45 minutes, or until heated through.
We serve this on hot flour tortillas with fresh mango salsa! |