Hunter and metal artist Audwin McGee is a big fan of slow-cooked meats: "You just can’t mess up a big hunk of pork. I like to use a bone-in Boston butt or shoulder with good fat content, so it doesn’t dry up." His pork is smothered in a garlic-rosemary paste, then cooked at a low temperature for several hours until it’s supertender. Ingredients 3 cloves garlic mashed to a paste 1 teaspoon rosemary minced 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 (9-lb) fresh picnic ham or bone-in Boston butt with skin, at room temperature 2 pounds cippolini onions peeled 6 sprigs Fresh thyme

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 325°. In a small bowl, mash the garlic with the rosemary, cayenne, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.

Using a sharp paring knife, make 1-inch-deep slits all over the meat. Press as much of the spice paste into the slits as you can and spread the rest all over the skin. Set the pork in a large roasting pan and cover tightly with foil. Roast for 3 hours. Remove the foil and roast for about 1 hour and 45 minutes longer, until an instant-read thermometer inserted in the thickest part of the meat registers 165°.

Meanwhile, in a medium baking dish, toss the onions with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the thyme sprigs and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the onions are tender and browned in spots.

Let the pork rest for 20 minutes. Remove the skin. Slice the meat as thinly as possible and serve with the onions.

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Yields: 12 Servings
     Food & Wine magazine, February 2007, page 125

notes:  MAKE AHEAD The roasted pork and onions can be refrigerated overnight. Serve the pork at room temperature; reheat the onions to serve.

WINE The marbling that keeps this tender, garlicky pork from drying out when it’s roasted also makes it pair well with a firmly tannic red wine (the raspy tannins cut through the richness of the meat). Try a Cabernet from Napa Valley’s robust 2004 vintage, such as the juicy, focused Ehlers Estate or the firm, oak-inflected Tamber Bey Two Rivers Vineyard.

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