Pork shoulder with mustard and rosemary sauce (p. 99)

I'm not big on using the slow-cooker. I have an irrational fear of burning down the house and I don't like to leave appliances, especially heated appliances, plugged in while I'm gone (I honestly don't see why most people think it's okay to leave the slow-cooker plugged in but not a coffee pot or curling iron). Because of this fear, I am unwilling to leave the house when the slow cooker is on, which means I tend to run it overnight. This causes my food to be ready first thing in the morning, exactly when I don't feel like packaging it up and putting it away. Thus, I don't use my slow cooker very frequently.

Rachel had told me that Pork shoulder with mustard and rosemary sauce (p. 99) was delicious, so I had been looking forward to making it for some time. Unfortunately, meat is rather expensive in Colorado and a bone-in pork shoulder was going to run me about $20 or so, which seemed unreasonable. I was looking through the sale section at the grocery store and spotted a six and a half pound bone-in picnic shoulder for $5. FIVE DOLLARS! Perfect.

Searing my pork shoulder was challenging--none of my pots or pans was really big enough and it was challenging to get in or out.

When I removed the pork, I added an onion, a carrot, and garlic to the pan:

I then added chicken broth, dry white wine, and rosemary to the veggies:

I poured it over the pork and set the slow cooker. TJOC says to cook it for 5 or 6 hours.

I cooked mine overnight, so it was much more like 10-12 hours:

It was a good sign that it was almost impossible to get out of the slow cooker--it was literally* falling off the bone. I drained off the cooking liquid and put the pork in a casserole dish that would fit in the refrigerator.

I melted a half stick of butter and then added a little flour and cooked for a couple minutes:

I whisked in the cooking liquid from the slow cooker and added some Dijon mustard:

Poured the gravy over some pork, all on egg noodles:

This pork dish was DELICIOUS. It was incredibly good. The mustard lent a delicious tang, the gravy was some of the best I've ever had. I could sit and drink a cup of the gravy, as disgusting as that sounds. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender. And it was perfect on egg noodles. Plus, if you don't have an irrational fear of burning down the house, it would be incredibly easy. It makes a TON of food too--TJOC says eight to ten servings but I think that's low--but it won't be a problem because you will want to eat it all anyway.

In fact, it was so good, that Josh, who never thinks to put anything in the freezer, made sure to freeze the leftovers before he left for Christmas.

*As those of you who know me in real life know, the misuse of the word "literally" is my absolutely biggest pet peeve. Your head did not "literally" explode because you saw something that made you mad. It metaphorically exploded. You are not "literally" the only person in the world. And so on. It is literally my biggest pet peeve and metaphorically makes me murderous when I hear it.