Five-Spice Pork Shoulder

This is special. This is for holidays or blizzards or special friends or COVID-19 quarantines. I love waking up and smelling this in the morning after it keeps roasting overnight. This recipe really belongs to Chris, but I wanted to make sure we had it somewhere for when we are not actually near the cookbook.

Aromatic Shoulder of Pork (aka Donnie Brasco)
from The River Cottage Meat Book

1 whole bone-in shoulder of pork, roughly 10 pounds

5 spice mix
2 star anise pods
2 tsps. fennel seeds
1/2 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 tsp. black peppercorns

5 large garlic cloves, peeled
2 inch piece of ginger, peeled
2 tsps dried chile flakes
2 tsps. ground ginger
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tbsp. flaky salt
1 tbsp. peanut oil
1 tbsp. soy sauce

- Score the rind of the pork should in parallel lines about 1/3 inch apart.
- Pound and mix together 5 spices in a mortar and pestle.
- Preheat oven to 450.
- Grate/press the garlic and fresh ginger into a small bowl and mix into a paste with chile flakes, ground ginger, brown sugar, salt, oil, and soy sauce with 1 tbsp. of 5 spice mix. Save the extra spice mix for future use.
- Place pork shoulder, skin-side up, on a rack in a large roasting pan. Rub over half the paste into the scored rind.
- Place the joint in the center of oven for 30 minutes for high temperature sizzle.
- Remove from oven and turn heat down to 225. Carefully flip shoulder over and use a spoon to smear remainder of paste on bottom.
- Pour a glass of water into the bottom of the roasting pan and return to oven for 16 to 24 hours. Baste occasionally. Flip skin side up again halfway through.
- Around 45 minutes before you want to eat, turn heat up to 450 to crisp up the crackling. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn. Carve and serve.