What can I pre-prepare from a shoulder of pork

[GinotPrigio]

I've been given a shoulder of pork and don't want to take up limited freezer space so need to cook it tomorrow. I don't fancy a roast so was thinking of using the meat to make something ahead for xmas and freeze. I'll be 36 weeks pregnant and have family arriving for a week at xmas so I have already been getting prepared and making sausage rolls, mince pies, etc for the freezer.

Any ideas what I could make from the meat. Ideally something which I can just easily throw in the oven for party/buffet food.

Pulled pork?

Can reheat on hob and serve in rolls/pittas with cheese or coleslaw and salad.

Well, the obvious is curry. But any pork casserole would be fine. You'd obvs have to take the meat off the bone though and dice it up. Or if you minced it, you could do meatballs or burgers.

Pot roast it! Basically means sealing the joint on all sides, then braising in liquid in a large pan or casserole. When cooked you can slice the meat or cut into chunks depending on the recipe and how you intend to serve it. You can use the cooking liquid as a gravy or sauce and freeze it in this.

Do you like Chinese food, I have adapted a Ken Hom recipe for braised pork belly using shoulder instead. The braising liquid contains fresh ginger, chicken stock, rice wine or dry sherry, light soy sauce, sugar, five spice powder and a few whole spring onions. It takes around 1.5 to 2 hrs, then you can use some of the liquid thickened with cornflour as a sauce.

OK not party food as such, but really delicious.

Thank you for your suggestions. I think I will make some casserole dishes and freeze.

girlywhirly I have never braised a pork joint before. Should I trim the fat off first? There's quite a large chuck of fat on the top

I remove the fat before braising.

The beauty of pot roasting is that you get ready made gravy! Also you can cook it on the hob in a lidded pan or pot if your oven is full of baking or something. You could do your pork in cider, or red wine, plus stock and herbs and seasonings, and a few shallots and chunks of carrot would also add flavour if you didn't want to do the Chinese recipe.

Thank you. Am trying a cider recipe!