EASY OVEN ROAST PORK WITH OR WITHOUT VEGETABLES
This original recipe was in BBC’s Good Food as a simple meat dish with no vegetables but my Trevor doesn’t believe in life without potatoes, I love butternut and why not use the timesaver of all-in-one – so I added some veg.
- 1 kg pork shoulder joint, or any largeish single cut that has a lovely layer of fat
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 large onion, sliced
- 2 cups water
- mixed herbs, optional
- garlic, fresh or dried, optional
- baby potatoes, optional, washed and rubbed with some oil and salt
- butternut, optional, sliced, washed and rubbed with some oil and salt
- Optional Brining:
- 3 teaspoons of salt in about 2 cups of water
Optional: Brining
I washed my pork and soaked it in 3 teaspoons of salt dissolved in just enough water to cover the meat. This breaks down the fibres and allows your meat to be still very moist after baking. 1 hour to overnight, your choice.
Heat the oven to 220°C.
If not brining, remove any packaging from the pork, retaining the string, wash and pat dry with kitchen paper – you want the skin to be as dry as possible. If you have brined then rinse and pat dry.
Score deep cuts into the skin using a sharp knife (you want to cut into the fat). If the skin is already scored, make sure each cut is dry and can be easily opened. Rub the oil into the skin, rubbing it well into each cut, then sprinkle the salt over in an even layer, rubbing this into the cuts, too.
Scatter the onion slices over the base of a large roasting tin and sit the pork joint on top.
Roast for 10 – 15 minutes, or until the skin starts to blister and bubble.
Put the kettle on to boil.
Pour half a litre of boiling water around the joint to cover the base of the tin, ensuring it doesn’t drip onto the skin.
You can, at this stage, sprinkle herbs and garlic over as much of the sides of the roast as you wish or just the top.
Reduce the oven temperature to 110°C.
Optional – if you are adding vegetables:
Roast for 1 hour then add your vegetables around your pork roast then continue to roast for another hour or until the meat under the skin is very tender when pressed.
There’s a lot of fat in pork shoulder if you are using that, so cooking at a low temperature this way ensures the meat doesn’t dry out – if needed, it can cook for up to 2,5 hours and will then be a very well done, but tender roast, almost shreddable, so rather aim for 2 hours. I feel like my roast though melt in the mouth was done by 2 hours and the additional wait time for hubby was too much.
If not adding veggies, roast for another 2 hours or until the meat under the skin is very tender when pressed– if needed, it can cook for up to 2,5 hours.
Turn the oven back up to 220°C and continue to roast the pork for 10 – 20 mins until the skin is very crisp and has started to harden – it should feel brittle when tapped with a knife. If needed, cook for 10 minutes more to achieve this.
The crackling was divine and I had to stop myself from stealing off pieces!
Remove the pork from the oven and rest for 5 -10 minutes in the tin, loosely covering with foil. Remove the crackling in large pieces, then break into smaller chunks. Carve the meat and serve alongside the crackling and your favourite sides.
Note:
The first time I made this I added too much boiling water as it was a small 500 g piece from a bulk pack so I had a very delicious, but extremely runny sauce at the bottom and no time to thicken before serving as I was dashing around making the table pretty. In that case, I removed half including some onion rings and froze it and just added it to the onions under my next roast of 1 kg. This last sauce held all the drippings, flavours, was thicker, just about penetrated the vegetables without being soggy and was utterly delicious!
Recipe and photo: Leora Nair
