Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast OR Pork Shoulder

Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast OR Pork Shoulder 1.75 - 2.5 kg / / 3.5 - 5lb pork loin OR shoulder/boston butt ,or scotch fillet, skinless (Note 1) 1.5 tbsp olive oil , separated Spice Rub: 2 tsp EACH paprika, thyme 1 tsp EACH garlic powder, onion powder 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper , optional 1/2 tsp pepper 2 tsp salt Honey Butter Sauce: 3/4 cup / 225 g honey 125 g / 1/2 cup butter , unsalted 5 cloves garlic , minced 1/4 cup / 65 ml cider vinegar 1/2 tsp salt and pepper , each Thickener: 3 tsp cornflour/cornstarch mixed with splash of water Spice Rub: Rub pork with about 1 tsp oil. Mix Rub together then sprinkle over pork. Pat to adhere all over. Brown: Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add pork and sear all around until deep golden brown (don't let spices burn). Place pork in slow cooker. Honey Butter Sauce: Wipe pan. Add butter and melt. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute until golden. Add remaining ingredients, mix, simmer rapidly for 30 seconds. Slow Cook: Pour Sauce over pork. Cover slow cooker. Pork loin - Cook on LOW for 4 to 5 hours, Pork Shoulder - Cook on LOW for 10 hours (Note 6 for oven, IP and pressure cooker). Remove pork onto serving platter, cover loosely with foil (10 - 20 minutes rest). Pour all juices in slow cooker into large saucepan. Add cornflour water mixture, mix. Thicken Sauce: Simmer on medium high for 5 minutes or until it reduces down to a syrupy consistency (Note 2). Slice pork into thick slices (1.5 - 2 cm / 3/5 - 4/5" thick). Serve with PLENTY of Honey Butter Sauce! Notes Pork cuts: This recipe is ideal made with pork loin, shoulder / Boston butt (boneless) or scotch fillet/neck, these are the 3 cuts I've make this recipe with. This is a highly flexible recipe that is ideal for any roast-size cut of pork, lean or well marbled. Needs to be made with skinless pork, trimmed of excess fat (don't want loads of surface fat melting into braising liquid which becomes the sauce). Pork Tenderloin - Because it's thinner, make the following recipe adjustments: Use 2 tenderloins (about 1 kg / 2 lb total) and use the sauce as written (ie don't scale recipe down). Simmer the sauce for 5 minutes to reduce slightly then pour over tenderloin in crockpot. If tenderloin is too long for the slow cooker, cut in half to make 2 shorter piece. Cook on low for 4 hours or until the centre registers 63C/145F with a meat thermometer (this will be juicy sliceable, not fork tender) OR for 5 hours until the tenderloin is tender enough to pry apart with 2 forks (sliceable after resting but fork tender). Rest while you make sauce per recipe then slice. Different pork sizes: 1 kg / 2lb - Pork Loin 3.5 hours on low, Shoulder 8 hours on low 1.5 - 2.5kg / 3 - 5lb: Per recipe 3kg / 6lb: Pork Loin 6 hours on low, Shoulder 11 - 12 hours on low Use times closest to your pork size. Do not use for multiple tenderloins - see Note 1. Sauce reduction: Reduction time to thicken dependent on how much juice comes out of the pork. Go by eye - when sauce is thin maple syrup consistency, it's ready (will thicken bit more when it cools a bit) Other cook methods: * Pressure Cooker - Pork shoulder 1 hour 20 minutes on HIGH. To save time, this is how I did the pork in the 2nd photo in post. Have not tried pork loin so am unsure of required time. * Instant Pot - Brown pork in IP, remove, melt butter and make Sauce in IP, then add pork back in, spoon over sauce. Then either cook using Pressure Cooker time for shoulder, or Slow Cooker time for pork loin or shoulder . Remove pork and make Sauce using sauté function. * OVEN - Ideal for shoulder and scotch roast because they are fattier, not sure about loin because it's much leaner. Oven Directions: Rub pork with spice, do not brown on stove, place in roasting pan with sauce and extra 1 cup water. Cover, roast at 140C/290F for about 3 hours or until fork tender. Uncover and roast to brown the pork - about 30 min. Remove pork, transfer all juices into a saucepan and follow recipe to thicken with cornflour/cornstarch. There will be less sauce because there's less pork juices when you oven roast, so if necessary, top up with water to get the sauce consistency per video (like maple syrup). MAKE AHEAD - I brown the pork and make the sauce the night before, pour it into the slow cooker then remove the insert and keep it in the fridge overnight. Then I put it in the slow cooker in the morning so it's ready that evening. If preparing ahead more than 12 hours or so, keep the sauce separate (because it will make the pork sweat). Leftovers - Keep in the fridge for 3 days, or freezer for 3 months. I pour the sauce over it, it soaks through the pork and I love it. Pork Doneness - Loin is a lean cut of pork so it's cooked for a short period of time than shoulder. Pork shoulder needs to be cooked for longer to let the tough fibres break down. Shoulder is more prone to falling apart (ie semi shredding) when slicing so be sure to rest it per recipe directions to minimise this.