Thai-Inspired Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder Feast

Ingredients

• For the Pork Shoulder:
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 bone-in, skin-on pork shoulder
• For Serving:
• 2 heads lettuce, such as red leaf, bibb, or romaine, leaves separated
• Fresh Thai herbs, such as cilantro, Thai basil, mint, and culantro , for garnish
• 1 1/2 cups Thai-style fried shallots
• 1 recipe Thai sticky rice
• 1 recipe Thai dried chili-vinegar dipping sauce
• Thai toasted-rice powder, homemade or store-bought, for garnish
• Fresh Thai chilies, thinly sliced

Directions

1. The day before you roast, stir the salt, sugar, and baking powder together in a small bowl; keep it nearby. With a sharp knife, cut a crosshatch into the pork skin, spacing the cuts 3/4 inch apart. Turn the shoulder over so the skin faces down, then make the same crosshatch on the meat side. Blot the pork well with paper towels, scatter the salt mixture over the whole shoulder, and massage it into every surface with your hands. Set the pork skin-side up on a wire rack inside a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, and chill it uncovered for at least overnight and up to 2 nights.
2. When you’re ready to cook, move an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 250 degrees F (121 degrees C). Slide the baking sheet, rack, and pork into the oven, and roast until a metal skewer or knife slips into the pork with almost no resistance, about 8 hours.
3. Take the pork out of the oven and cover it loosely with foil. Turn the oven up to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C) and give it time to preheat. Leave the pork at room temperature for at least 15 minutes and up to 45 minutes. Put the pork back in the oven, turning it every 5 minutes, and roast until the skin bubbles, blisters, and puffs, about 20 minutes total. Pull it from the oven and let it sit uncovered for an additional 15 minutes. Move it to a serving platter.
4. To serve, carry the pork shoulder to the table. With tongs and a meat fork, crack the skin into bite-size pieces and tease the meat apart, then serve right away with the garnishes alongside.