Get your Holiday feast on with this delicious Slow Roasted Brown Butter and Vanilla Pork Shoulder with pears. It will be your wow center piece for sure. Slow, easy and delicious, win win!
I started out with a beautiful piece of Pork Shoulder from Farmer John to make this delicious slow roasted browned butter and vanilla pork shoulder with pears.
It was brined for 24 hours in some basics like water, salt, thyme, bay leaves and vanilla bean to add a luscious flavor. I was inspired by the flavors from my friend Eva’s cookbook using her recipe on chicken. When I made this before it was so good on pork I could not resist sharing this deliciousness with you.
This is something you can make ahead of time and get it all ready for your dinner guests for the holidays and not have to be stuck in the kitchen. I made my pork over night in a low and slow heat in the oven and then let it rest. When I was ready to serve it I reheated it and crisped up the skin… which is my favorite part of this dish. that’s about it. You do need to let it brine over night or longer if you decide to cook it over night and not wait all day to roast it.
With the holidays coming up, I figured having a recipe that can let you enjoy yourself while this pork cooks is the best way to use your time to spend with family and friends, am i right?
If you’re up for some crispy skin on this pork, score the skin on your own or ask your butcher to do it for you. Use a really sharp knife to cut a diamond pattern into the skin. The cuts should go through the skin and into the fat, but not the meat.
You don’t need to do much after that besides making your house smell amazing and hanging out with a glass of wine. Making other sides while you wait on this or have your friends and family bring sides. I think my smashes potatoes or hasselback potatoes would go so good with this pork.
Also the great thing is, if you have leftovers you can make some delicious sandwiches the next day or even tacos, possibilities are endless.
The Bacon Party is also hosting a 12 Days of Bacon Giveaway here, check it out and go enter to win some great prizes.
SLOW ROASTED BROWN BUTTER AND VANILLA PORK SHOULDER
Ingredients
Pork
- 1 5-7 lb Farmer John pork shoulder picnic
- 24 cups cold water
- 18 tbsp kosher salt or sea salt
- 6 sprigs fresh thyme
- 3 fresh or dried bay leaves
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 bosc pears, halved and quartered
Vanilla Bean Sauce
- 12 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1.5 vanilla beans
- 1 tbsp orange vinegar or orange juice
Instructions
Pork
- I cut multiple openings with a pairing knife all over the pork to make sure it's infused with the brining flavors. In a large pot, mix together water, salt, vanilla extract, thyme and bay leaves. Add the pork in the pot, cover with a lid. Refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, when you are ready to cook the pork, remove it from the brine, pat it dry with paper towels. If you would like, cut the pork fat area into diamonds. Place it on a baking dish on a rack.
- Preheat your oven to 250 F. Set the oven rack to the middle position.
- Cook the pork uncovered for 8-9 hours until temp reads 185 F on a meat thermometer.
- Cut the pears and add them around and under the pork where possible.
- Remove pears once pork is done, let the pork rest for 10-15 minutes while oven heats to 500F. Add the pork and cook for 5 minutes, rotate and cook for another 5 until skin puffs up all over. The skin should be puffy and blistered, and you should be completely beside yourself with glee at this point!
Vanilla Bean Butter
- For the vanilla bean brown butter, melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking the butter, stirring several times to ensure it cooks evenly, until it turns golden brown and smells toasty. Remove from the heat and use a blunt butter knife to scrape the inside of the vanilla bean pods over the pot, allowing the small vanilla beans to fall into the brown butter. After scraping, add the vanilla pods and vinegar to the pot and whisk. Set aside and infuse for 15 minutes.
- Slice the pork into thin slices, add the pears and drizzle with vanilla-butter sauce. Add your favorite sides and enjoy.
xoxo & happy holidays,
LENA
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
If you give these SLOW ROASTED BROWN BUTTER AND VANILLA PORK SHOULDER a try? Let me know what you think. Leave a comment and don’t forget to take a picture and share it on my Facebook page or tag it #lenaskitchenblog on Instagram! I love seeing what you come up with!
Thank you for supporting the brands that I enjoy working with. This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Farmer John. The opinions and text are all mine.
Shane
When do you add the pears?
Jessie
The wait is worth it! Hubs and I thoroughly enjoyed this! We’re pretty clean Keto, and being in quarantine I tried to use what I had. Lena was so gracious in responding to my inquiries in a timely manner! We didn’t change up too much. (no pears, or orange juice.) If you have the time, brine that baby for a solid day. It’s so worth it! No fresh thyme, here. So dry it was. What I changed was the sauce. Lena suggested (with the list I had) shallots, garlic and thyme. I added that to melted butter and a little white wine. But quite frankly, with the crispy skin and the warmth of the vanilla throughout, it was absolutely brilliant on it’s own! thank you, Lena, for another home run recipe!!
Amy Childs
These are so incredibly good! They do take a little bit more attention than your average choc chip cookie but well worth it. I doubled mine since I knew ahead of time they would 1) be amazing 2) take more work so why not get more bang for my buck! So go make them asap. I’m excited to add these to my Christmas cookie line-up.
lenaskitchen
I am so glad you made double batch. They are so good. Totally worth the little extra elbow grease.
Amy Childs
Definitely! And now to think I’m onto Whole30…haha, enjoyed the holiday splurges
lenaskitchen
Ohh girl, I feel ya. We are on day 5 and it’s so good to take good care of yourself in the New Year for sure.