1 bunch homegrown carrots, scrubbed and cut in thirds
2 yellow onions, peeled and quartered
1/2 homegrown garlic bulb or about six cloves, peeled
5 pounds off-the-bone pork shoulder
1/2 pintWeaver’s apple cider
1 bunch fresh sage, washed and stripped
1 whole nutmeg kernel, grated
1/4 cup cooking olive oil
Salt and pepper
Instructions
First, preheat the oven to 400 Fahrenheit. Rinse and dry veggies before prepping them on a cutting board. Core and thickly slice the apples, scrub and cut carrots in half or in thirds. Peel onions and garlic, and quarter the onion. Strip the sage leaves from the stem.
Place half of the apples, veggies and sage into the bottom of a heavy-duty roasting pan or Dutch oven, drizzling with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then add the pork shoulder, setting it on top of the veggies. Fill in the remaining veggies around the meat snuggly before pouring the Weaver’s apple cider over the roast and contents of the pan. Finally, add the rest of the olive oil, some more salt and pepper, and grate the fresh nutmeg over everything before placing the pan into the oven.
Cook uncovered at 400 degrees for 1.5 hours, before lowering the temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Add splashes of apple cider if the meat starts to dry out, and then cook for another 2-2.5 hours or until meat begins to pull apart easily.
Remove the roast from the oven and let cool a bit before tearing the pork apart with two forks, mixing in the cooked-down apple, onion and carrot as you go for some intense flavor. Enjoy this pulled pork a variety of ways including in sandwiches, with a side of cornbread and baked beans, or as the main star in a wintery dinner!