If you keep it on low, I enjoy using pork loin with a nice cap of fat. Also roasts wonderfully in the oven if you have the time. Pork butt or shoulder also roasts nicely, but I prefer boneless as it's just easier to use in a crock pot. Keep the bone-in cuts for roasting in the oven.
If you want a pork roast you can slice, I don't recommend a slow cooker for more than 5 or 6 hours on low. Anything over that and you may find you end up with pulled pork, which is just as delicious, but is not a pork roast.
As usual, Pierino has the answer. Perhaps I can add a little background:
Slow cooker = braising = cooking meat low and slow in a moist environment. The process works by converting collagen from connective tissue into gelatin and the melting of fat. So what you're looking for is a fatty cut from a part of the animal that works constantly, e.g. the shoulder, AKA "butt". The conversion process begins around 140F and is most efficient close to boiling so regulate the heat accordingly.
For richer, more complex flavors you also want to invoke the Maillard reaction, the browning of proteins through heat so don't make the common slow-cooker mistake of skipping that step.
Pegeen - funny, I was wondering the same thing last week. Wikipedia to the rescue again (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_butt):
History of the name and cut
In pre-revolutionary New England and into the American Revolutionary War, some pork cuts (not those highly valued, or "high on the hog," like loin and ham) were packed into casks or barrels (also known as "butts") for storage and shipment.[2] The way the hog shoulder was cut in the Boston area became known in other regions as "Boston butt". In the UK it is known as "pork hand and spring", or simply "pork hand".
Come on Future...Ania came here because he/she thought they would get a good answer....not directions to another website...that's why we come to Food52....smart, thoughtful answers
Come on Future...Ania came here because he/she thought they would get a good answer....not directions to another website...that's why we come to Food52....smart, thoughtful answers
Use a pork shoulder. Preferably one that has a fair amount of exterior fat. Lard it with garlic slivers. And be sure to brown it on the stove top before putting it in the slow cooker.
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If you want a pork roast you can slice, I don't recommend a slow cooker for more than 5 or 6 hours on low. Anything over that and you may find you end up with pulled pork, which is just as delicious, but is not a pork roast.
As usual, Pierino has the answer. Perhaps I can add a little background:
Slow cooker = braising = cooking meat low and slow in a moist environment. The process works by converting collagen from connective tissue into gelatin and the melting of fat. So what you're looking for is a fatty cut from a part of the animal that works constantly, e.g. the shoulder, AKA "butt". The conversion process begins around 140F and is most efficient close to boiling so regulate the heat accordingly.
For richer, more complex flavors you also want to invoke the Maillard reaction, the browning of proteins through heat so don't make the common slow-cooker mistake of skipping that step.
History of the name and cut
In pre-revolutionary New England and into the American Revolutionary War, some pork cuts (not those highly valued, or "high on the hog," like loin and ham) were packed into casks or barrels (also known as "butts") for storage and shipment.[2] The way the hog shoulder was cut in the Boston area became known in other regions as "Boston butt". In the UK it is known as "pork hand and spring", or simply "pork hand".
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