Could anything possibly be better than roast pork?

What did you fix for Easter dinner? At my house, it was a mix of old and new.

We started out with a salad of grilled romaine with radishes, hard-cooked eggs and toasted breadcrumbs. You'll just have to wait for the recipe for that one; it's coming in a couple weeks.

The main course was my old favorite roast pork shoulder. I make this three or four times a year, in slightly different variations, but it always seems to turn out amazing. This time, I served it with sugar snap peas I'd briefly steamed and then reheated in the pork drippings and a couple bottles from the fabulous 2009 vintage of Beaujolais (if you haven't picked some up, you have to give it a try). I seasoned it with a mixture of roughly 2 parts black pepper to 1 part each cloves and allspice.

This thing couldn't be easier to prepare -– score the skin so the fat can render, rub with the seasoning, refrigerate overnight, then roast at 325 degrees to an internal temperature of 155 to 160, and finally turn up the heat to 450 for the last 15 to 20 minutes to crisp the skin. When that thing came out of the oven, sizzling and popping, I had to take a picture.

The meat is moist and rich (the shoulder is one of the last cuts of pork that actually has enough marbling for flavor) and the skin turns into God's own chicharrones. Maybe most unbelievable of all? A 9-pound cut, enough to serve seven with plentiful leftovers, cost about $16 -– roughly the same as a single bottle of the Beaujolais.

Dessert was my old pal Deborah Madison's Swedish cream, served with blackberries sweetened with a little honey. The evening would have been perfect if the Lakers had been able to figure out what to do with Chris Paul.

Now, tell us what you did.

-- Russ Parsons

Photo: Russ Parsons / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Alaska Food and Wine]

Pork shoulder (AKA butt)is a terrific cut that is far too under-utilized by the home cook despite being tender and moist when properly prepared. I often slow-cook it, but haven't tried roasting -- until now. You caught my attention with your description of the cripy skin, "God's own chicharrones." It sounds marvelous.

[S. Lanum]

$1.98/lb for pork. I guess the whole humanely raised, sustainably farmed thing has slipped past the LA Times food section staff.

[Susan Stone]

Wow, Russ...this pork roast looks fabulous and I can't wait to try it and the 2009 Beaujolais. It reminded me of the pork we used to purchase at the neighborhood grocery (in the '50s) run by Mrs. Earle. She scored the ham and poured what we'd call Jezebel sauce over the top before roasting. My parents were really smart. They invited Mrs. Earle to all our holiday dinners and she almost always came bearing one of her fantastic hams.
Speaking of pork shoulder, have you tried it using the Italian recipe Marcella Hazen included in her book, Italian Classics (maybe not the exact name of the book, but that's what I remember right now? Hers is milk braised and done stovetop. Batalli has a similar recipe done in the oven. We've ordered the dish from a tiny Columbus Street restaurant in San Francisco called Osteria al Forno. It is "to die for" and reminds my husband of the pork chops his grandmother made by oven roasting them in milk.

Pork is soooo delicious. Thanks for giving me another recipe, which looks way easier than the milk braise!

[Isernia]

Pork shoulder is such a versatile piece of meat. A bit labor intensive though. I make barbecue pork by rendering its abundant fat in s crock pot. It is inexpensive when there is a crowd to feed. ..on crusty rolls & horseradish dressing....mmm, good!
My Italian mother used a small piece of pork shoulder as a basis of tomato sauce by slitting into the meat making pockets she filled with garlic, parsley and SALT PORK! Fat did not seem so unhealthful sixty years ago. She also prepared freshly picked dandelions in pork shoulder at this time of year.
My butcher explained the difference between pork shoulder and pork BUTT...which I thought was the pig's hind quarters. No! Anatomically, the butt is connected to the shoulder. Each cut varies in the amount of fat and is either better roasted or better boiled with leafy greens. Smoked pork provides a different flavor. Perhaps the LA Times Food page could explain the differences with recipe suggestions.

[Germaine]

I got half a pork loin, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and a few garlic cloves, and made a miso-lingonberry glaze. It was supposed to be an apricon-miso glaze, but at the last minute my son informed me that he doesn't like apricots (news to me!). I figured the lingonberries would take me back to my Scandinavian roots... Sides were Asian slaw, braised baby bok choy, and white rice. Key lime pie for dessert.

The pork loin weighted 7 lbs. and set me back $18.00. That's a lot of meat and no bone -- cold pork sandwiches -- yum. I'll probably make some fried rice with the leftover rice and the last of the pork.

[Sonnie Swenston]

Wow, does that look good!

I smoked a whole, bone-in leg of lamb. Rubbed it with salt, black pepper, cumin, garlic, lemon zest and rosemary early in the morning; stuck it in the refrigerator. Prepared the fire, pulled the meat out of the fridge. Threw on a chunk of oak (it was all the hardwood I had -- apple would have been great) and put the lamb in for four hours at 200 degrees in the smoker. Wrapped some large red potatoes in foil and put those in too. I turned on the gas grill to blast the lamb for 10 minutes to set the crust, pulled it out to rest, and then grilled Brussels sprouts that I got on Saturday from the farmers' market. I'd put some sliced onion with a dash of Worchestershire sauce, salt and pepper in a mini crock-pot the night before. Also, I made a sauce of nonfat feta, nonfat Greek yogurt, grated apple, fresh dill, horseradish and vinegar (based on a Weight Watchers recipe, but delicious enough for any0ne) and served that. We had a bottle of Tempranillo with it. Dessert -- much later -- was fresh strawberries from the farmers' market with a little vanilla bean ice cream and a cookie.

[Russ Parsons]

Hey girlfriend! I got it at my local Mexican market. they always seem to have it. $1.98 a pound.

[Evan Kleiman]

Where did you get the pork butt with the skin on?