This is possibly the easiest recipe I have ever created that hits all the notes needed for a crowd-pleasing dish: salty, sweet, spicy, sour, and umami all come together to create a satisfying and balanced dish. In it’s simplest form, it takes just a few minutes to prep before the oven (or slow cooker) does all the work for you. On the days when I have more time in the kitchen, I take the time to attend to some of the extra flourishes included in the tips below, which definitely add to the depth of flavor, but I often make it just as the basic recipe with the 8 ingredients below and it always blows me away with deliciousness!

Ingredients:
– 1 cup brown sugar
– 1 cup lower sodium soy sauce
– 3 cups of chicken stock (Homemade is always best, if not use the lowest sodium possible from the store)
– 3 Tbsp fresh ginger, grated
– 3 Tbsp fresh garlic, grated
– 2 tsp red pepper flakes
– Pork Shoulder (6-8 lbs)
– Lime wedges to garnish

How I Make It:
– Heat up chicken stock and soy sauce enough to dissolved brown sugar completely
– Add ginger and garlic, stir well.
– Place pork shoulder in a pan large enough to hold the pork (I use a sturdy foil pan)
– Pour sauce mixture over the pork (it should cover 1/2 to 2/3 of the pork) and cover with foil
– Bake 300 degrees for 5-6 hours, carefully turning the pork once or twice during cooking. (I also remove the foil for the last hour of cooking to get a better developed “bark” on the outside of the meat)
– Remove from oven and allow to sit until pork is cool enough to shred.
– Taste sauce, adjust for seasoning and pour over shredded pork
– Serve over rice with lime wedges to squeeze on top

Optional Ingredients:
– This dish is best served with a fresh garnish on top, which I vary depending on what I have on hand. Some of my favorites are chives, scallions, cilantro, mint, and chive blossoms (in picture above) when they are available in my garden.
– Substitute the red pepper flakes for your favorite whole spicy chilis (I remove the seeds first) and then remove the peppers after cooking.
– You may find that you need to add another cup of chicken stock, depending on how much of the pork is submerged by the sauce.
– Cornstarch to thicken sauce if desired (see below)

Tips:
* I like to buy a 11 lb or so pork shoulder and then cut about 3 lbs of meat and fat off of the outside to grind for sausage (you can get my Hot & Sweet Italian Sausage recipe here).
* To develop extra flavor, first salt then brown all sides of the pork shoulder in a cast iron skillet on medium high heat with 2 Tbsp of oil, deglaze with chicken stock before mixing it into the sauce.
* This recipe can be made in a slow cooker on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 8-10 hours (but you won’t get the flavorful bark to form on the outside of the meat like you will with cooking it in the oven).
* When I have the extra time I like to thicken the sauce while the pork cools, by transferring it to to a saucepan, skimming off the extra fat and adding one Tbsp of cornstarch for every cup of sauce (about 5 here) and just enough cold water to make a slurry, which I then pour into the hot sauce over medium high heat, whisking continuously until the sauce thickens.
* Adding some light coconut milk to your rice recipe will result in a silky coconut rice that goes wonderfully with the flavor profile of this recipe. I usually swap out 1 cup of the water for light coconut milk when I make coconut rice.
* My recipe for Gremolata is the garnish of choice here that helps add the perfect bright acidity to balance to richness of the dish (I usually substitute the parsley for cilantro and/or mint for this recipe when I have it).

If you cook for pork lovers, this is one to keep in your book!

Happy Eating!