Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder

I’ve spent a hefty chunk of my writing career devoted to the miracle that is the pig. I have signed easily a thousand copies of my book Charcuterie with the words “Honor the pig.” The pig is indeed bounty itself, and it is incumbent upon everyone who cooks to be openly and continuously grateful wherever we encounter bounty, whether for the farmers’ market at the height of summer or for fabulous and nourishing beans in the dead of winter.

Charcuterie—a term that literally translates as “cooked meat,” but that is really about preservation methods—is all but synonymous with the pig. Granted, there are preparations in charcuterie that don’t involve the pig: Duck Confit is one example. But by and large, an entire culinary specialty is devoted to this single animal.