Slow-roasting a pork shoulder

I went across the river to Intermarché and bought a big piece of a hog yesterday. C'est une épaule de porc — the whole shoulder, bone-in, skin-on, and it weighs 15 lbs., or nearly 7 kilograms. I'm going to roast it today, and when I say today I mean all day long. It just barely fits in the oven.

 Here's the 15 lb. pork shoulder with a coffee mug in the picture for scale.

The price was good — at €1.95/kg, that makes it about US$1.18/lb at the current exchange rate. In other words, pork shoulder cost €13.38, the equivalent of US$17.82. The butcher at Intermarché told me I got the last one he had. I was happy, because so often he has sold out of the advertised specials by the time I get there.

I sprinkled both sides of the shoulder liberally with salt, black pepper,

smoked paprika, and piment pour harissa (hot red chilli powder).

What will I do with all that pork? I'll "pull" it to make "pulled-pork barbecue." After it cooks for 10 hours or so in a slow oven — just over 100ºC or at most 220ºF — I'll turn the oven up to high and let the roast brown a little, to give it good color and crispiness on the outside. Then I'll let it cool down before shredding the meat by pulling it apart with a couple of forks or my fingers. Finally, I'll season it with a vinegar-based sauce.

The pork shoulder just barely fit in our oven, where it will cook slowly for 10 hours.

I've never done this before. I've made pulled pork, pulled turkey, and even pulled lamb, but never on this scale. I'll be interested to see how many pounds of actual "barbecue" or meat the shoulder will yield. Luckily, pork barbecued this way freezes well and takes up minimal space in the freezer.