Took John's advice and cooked the shoulder wet. About 6 hours in a gallon of apple cider, water, caramelized onions, garlic, bay leaf, black peppercorns.
Sauté a few carrots and celery, add some hunks of shoulder, add some of the poaching liquid to a roux, add the gravy, bring to a simmer, add the dumpling batter, cover, let simmer for 15 minutes. Done. Dumplings turned out nice and fluffy but could have been more flavorful. Maybe more butter. Next time I'll add some apples at the end too. The apple flavored gravy was great, only wanted more of it. Glad I left the fat on the shoulder.
Overall, perfect for a cold winter's day.
