Roast pork with crackling

This recipe is for a pork shoulder weighing between 4 - 6 pounds. It takes 6 hours to cook but will leave you with 'pull apart' tender meat that can be stretched over several meals. I will provide some links to several ideas at the end. 

 

Recipe : Roast pork shoulder (make sure it still has it's skin for crackling)

1 pork shoulder, rolled and tied (bone in)

1 onion, sliced thinly

2 carrots, sliced thickly

1 rib of celery, sliced thickly

4 cloves garlic, unpeeled and whole

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp salt

black pepper

First, to create your crackling, preheat the oven to 425oF.

Get a very sharp knife and slash the skin of the pork with cuts about 3 inches across and 1/2 inch deep. The skin is tough, so you may need to use a craft knife. You need about 6 - 8 cuts.

Holding the cuts open slightly, rub the salt well into the skin and down into the cuts.

Place the pork on a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 425oF.

After 30 minutes, remove the pork from the oven, (it may smoke a little), and place the meat on a board. 

Place the vegetables and bay leaves into the baking dish and place the pork back on top. Sprinkle with some black pepper. 

Cover the dish with a double layer of foil and place back into the oven. 

Reduce the oven temperature to 325oF and continue to cook for another 5.5 hours.

After this time, the pork should be falling apart and the vegetables reduced down in a large amount of juice. 

To make gravy:

Remove the meat from the tray and cover well until needed.

If your baking tray is hob proof, put over a medium heat or, if not, transfer everything from the baking tray to a saucepan and place this over medium heat. 

Bring the liquid and vegetables to the boil, reduce heat to low and add 1/4 cup cider. Squeeze the garlic from their skins and mix into the juice. Let this simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes to thicken and mellow. Strain into a clean saucepan and add a little cream if you like.

To serve, break the meat into chunks and serve with the gravy. You will have lots of meat, here are some ideas to stretch it into other meals.

Pulled pork sandwiches

Burritos and soup

Taco with pork, radishes and chive flowers (scroll down on the post)

Recipe : Apple sauce

1 apple, cored, peeled and chopped into chunks

1 tbsp water

Sugar to taste (about 1/2 tsp)

Place the apple, sugar and water in a pan over low heat and simmer until the apple is soft and collapsed and the sauce thick. Taste, adjusting the sugar to suit your taste, (don't make it too sweet, you want a little tartness). Remove from the heat to cool a little and serve straight away or refrigerate.