Paul's Boston Butt Roast

So I decided to do a bone-in shoulder roast in my brand new cast-iron dutch oven. After going through a few recipes and getting advice from Scott (much of which I discarded in favor of "Shooting from the hip"). Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

1.5 lb pork shoulder
1 bell pepper
1 roma tomato
1 onion
1 match chili pepper
1 bulb of garlic
3 carrots
2 potatoes
basil
oregano
rosemary
onion chives (used these herbs because they're what I have in the garden)
crushed cayenne pepper
black pepper
salt
Olive oil
cheap Australian pinot grigio
Guinness Extra Stout


Started out browning the meat with olive oil in the cast iron on medium heat while I chopped the veggies. After browning, I drained the oil into a pan for sauteeing the veggies. Added water and wine to the top of the roast. Chopped and sauteed the vegetables, then added them to the water, with the herbs. Salted and peppered (black and cayenne) everything. Covered and brought it to a boil. Let it boil for about 10 minutes, then put it in the oven at 350.

after about an hour, I took it out and looked at it. The meat didn't look brown enough, so I took it out and browned it some more on the frying pan. I also salted and peppered it (which should have been the first thing I did.) Put it back in, brought it to a boil again. Here's where I made my Big Mistake:

Big Mistake: I added Guinness Extra Stout. I was drinking it at the time, and I had such delicious Guinness roasts in the past that I just couldn't help but pour half of the pint and a half bottle into the water. Other than a very satisfying sizzle and bubble, this added absolutely nothing to the roast. This mistake comes from 2 earlier mistakes: 1) drinking Guinness in August in Louisiana (when my a/c was broken) and 2) drinking way faster than I was cooking.

Anyway, I put it back in the oven and waited 2 1/2 more hours. During that time I watched the Olympics, completed the research for and wrote the first part of a trilogy of historical fiction novels set during the domestication of the Catahoula Hound in pre-colonial Louisiana, got an MBA, and drank a little Miller High Life.

At the end of the 3 1/2 hours (about 10 p.m.), I took it out and tried my creation. It was delicious. Needed salt, but it was absolutely delicious. The carrots were possibly the best part. After fixing and eating seconds, I decided to poke around in the pot. After all, half the reason I decided to do this is so that Gus could have the shoulder bone. I had been telling him about it all day. So here I am, poking around, pulling the meat apart and . . . . THERE'S NO BONE. I get the wrapping paper out of the trash and read, "bone-in pork butt cut." Whole Foods sold me a bone-in shoulder with no bone. Poor Gus didn't understand. Oh well, it was still good.

Things I learned:

1) You need to decide: Wine or Guinness.

2) Match Chili Peppers: So very incredibly hot. I chopped one up, threw most of it in, then threw a piece in my mouth. After yelling a bit, I had to fish half of it out. Though this ingredient added the most delicious spice to the roast, it showed me that I need to be a little more familiar with my ingredients.

3) Be wary of the Whole Foods meat department. They're hoarding bones or something.




Gus beg rating: 7/10


Sorry there are no pictures, I'll try to take some of tonight's meal.

-Paul