Slow-roasted pork shoulder with root vegetables

Makes Dinner for 4 tonight, about 8 cups of shredded pork and 2 quarts of broth

A shoulder roasted low for six hours until it falls apart at a touch. Chunks with roast vegetables tonight; the rest is three dinners, and the bone becomes broth.

7 hr (1 hr hands-on), plus salting overnight · serves 4

You need

• 1 bone-in pork shoulder (Boston butt), 7 to 8 lb
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 orange, halved
• 1 medium yellow onion, quartered
• 1 head garlic, halved across the middle
• 2 lb mixed root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, small potatoes), cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• For the broth: the bone, 1 onion (halved), 4 garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, 3 quarts water

How to make it

1. Saturday night: mix the salt, sugar, cumin, paprika and pepper. Pat the pork dry and rub the mix into every side and crevice. Set it on a plate, uncovered, in the fridge overnight.
2. Sunday morning: heat the oven to 300°F. Put the pork fat side up in a roasting pan or large ovenproof pot. Tuck the orange halves, onion and garlic around it and pour 1 cup water into the pan.
3. Roast 5½ to 6½ hours, basting with the pan juices every hour or so. Add ½ cup water whenever the pan looks dry, so the juices don't burn.
4. With an hour to go, toss the root vegetables with the oil and a pinch of salt and scatter them around the pork in the juices.
5. It's done when the outside is deep mahogany and a fork twists out a chunk with no effort. The inside should read 195°F to 205°F; at that point the tough parts have melted. Rest it 20 minutes, loosely covered.
6. Pour the pan juices into a heatproof jar. Squeeze the soft garlic and orange into the juices if you like.
7. Pull big chunks off for tonight and serve with the vegetables and a spoonful of juices.
8. After dinner, shred the rest with two forks, discarding big pieces of fat. You'll have about 8 cups. Portion 3 cups for Monday and 2½ cups for Tuesday in the fridge, 2½ cups for Thursday in the freezer.
9. Once the juices cool, the fat rises and sets. Lift it into a small jar for Monday's carnitas. The jelly underneath is Tuesday's barbecue sauce base.
10. The broth: put the bone, onion, garlic, bay and 3 quarts water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then the lowest simmer for 2 hours. Strain; you'll have about 2 quarts. Cool and freeze it for Thursday.

Boneless shoulder works too: start checking an hour earlier, and buy a pound less.

Cooked pork keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge. That's why Thursday's is frozen.