Day-at-the-beach pork picnic with peach and melon salsa from Deep Run Roots: Stories and Recipes from My Corner of the South (page 455) by Vivian Howard

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Notes about this recipe

  • chawkins on September 02, 2025

    Both the pork and the salsa were excellent. My picnic was close to eight pounds, so I increased everything in the rub by a teaspoon and the covered cooking time by an hour and the uncovered cooking time by 10 minutes. The pork was falling off the bone tender and the crackling crisp. I oiled the sides and bottom of my cast iron dutch oven and had no problem with burning or sticking, the picnic did exude a bit of liquid during cooking.

  • twoyolks on September 05, 2018

    I really liked the peach and melon salsa (as did my savory fruit hating wife). It really complimented the pork well. The pork itself was a pretty generic roast pork shoulder. I've had better versions. The sugar and spice rub from the pork did burn onto the bottom of my dutch oven and was a pain to clean.

  • mrshalf on July 26, 2018

    On a forum, Vivian suggested the following as a summer dinner party menu: Butterbean Hummus with Charred Okra and Marinated Peppers Blueberries and Cucumbers with Pistachios and Yogurt Salad Squash Fontina Casserole Pudding and Sweet Corn Vanilla Souflee with Blackberries I'm trying this tonight. Will update with reviews.

  • SheilaS on August 26, 2017

    The Peach & Melon Salsa is excellent. As noted by cicorbi & TrishaCP, if your peaches and watermelon are really ripe, the salsa is not going to hold up for next-day leftovers but the flavors are great. Luckily, it's easy enough to toss together that it can be made shortly before serving. I'd make this on its own to serve as a side or with chips. I might add a jalapeño instead of the chipotle pepper in adobo but it was great as is. The cumin-sugar-salt rub is great on the pork and I'll certainly use it again. Served this with corn on the cob - Boiled in a Big Pot with Coconut Ginger Butter p 226 and Assorted Squash Pickle Salad p 343. The corn was especially great with this.

  • TrishaCP on July 29, 2017

    We loved this. The spice rub for the pork is awesome, but I had to keep throwing in spoonfuls of water to keep the sugar from caramelizing too much. So not quite a problem, but don't throw it in the oven and forget it totally either. I really liked this salsa-it was great with the pork and definitely a make again for us. We made it 30 minutes in advance. Ours did throw off water too, but a slotted spoon resolved that problem. We served with corn on the cob, which went really well with the other flavors.

  • clcorbi on July 17, 2017

    The pork shoulder portion of this recipe is phenomenal. The rub--equal parts cumin, brown sugar, and salt--is absolutely scrumptious, and the pork shoulder is totally hands-off as it roasts. Five stars! I would totally make it again. I wasn't quite as sold on the salsa. I think part of it was our produce--our peaches were very ripe and juicy, which would normally be a good thing, but I actually think firmer ones would hold up much better here. We prepared the salsa about an hour before eating and it had already thrown off a ton of water, probably from the added salt. The flavor was good but it was quite watery. We had leftovers and they got even more watery and limp overnight. I wish I had just made a half-recipe and not even considered having leftovers. So, with those factors in mind, I might not repeat the salsa as I have tried other fruit-based salsa recipes I like better. But if you are feeding a big group, and will have no leftovers, this won't be an issue. 4 stars overall.

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