Cooking a pork shoulder until it’s silky and tender and then shredding it up for guests is one of the best feed-a-crowd dishes we know, and there are many ways to get it on the table. Low-and-slow pork barbecue, served with a vinegary Eastern North Carolina–style sauce and plenty of slaw on warm, soft buns is one of the first things that comes to mind, but there are so many other options to consider. Many of them are not nearly as time-intensive, and most do not require fiddling with the vents on a smoker for a whole day.
We’ve gathered all of our favorite methods together for this collection: backyard smoking marathons, slow-cooker wonders, braised and fried, slow-roasted, sous vide, you name it. If it’s pork and you can shred it, we’ve got it here—plus some great ideas for what to do with leftovers. For those who need a refresher on what exactly they’re shredding, Elazar Sontag put together a nice explainer on the ins and outs of pork shoulder.