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Smoked Shoulder of Pork

A smoked pork shoulder prepared by boiling, seasoning with sugar and cloves, then baking until tender.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and clove are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,515 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Smoked Shoulder of Pork

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Cut the stringer from the pork shoulder.

  2. Place the shoulder in a large pot and boil for 1 hour.

  3. Drain the water, refill the pot, and continue boiling until tender, about 3.5 hours total (4.5 hours if large).

  4. Remove the rind from the shoulder.

Glaze and bake

  1. Place the shoulder in a pan and dredge it well with sugar.

  2. Insert cloves into the fat, spaced about 1 inch apart.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 40 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pork + clovetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,515 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Sugar + clovetop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17,182 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  3. Pork + sugartop 37% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,579 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Sugar and clove barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 17,182 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pork shoulder
Long boiling breaks down its connective tissue, making the meat tender and moist.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the surface brown and caramelise in the oven.
Cloves
Add a warm, pungent aroma and flavour that penetrates the fat.

The step that matters

Boil until fully tender. Pork shoulder is rich in connective tissue. It only becomes tender after prolonged simmering converts collagen into gelatin, so stopping early leaves the meat tough. Larger cuts need the longer time.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sugar):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Gingerfits better
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sugar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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