Tag: pork shoulder

Ross O’Meara’s Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 8+

My mother cooked this last night and what a great dish!

Of course, half the genius is the 6 hour cooking time of the wonderful pork shoulder though the other half is the simple, set-and-forget nature of the dish.

It takes only a little prep time and the afternoon is yours again.

We had this with sautéed Brussel sprouts, poached baby turnips and roasted baby carrots and apple sauce… and the incredible potatoes that have been cooking alongside the moorish pork. (After cooking, I removed the skin/crackling and gave it a good whack under the grill to really finish it off!)

Winter is almost here. Get yourself some pork shoulder and get into this!

3kg pork shoulder, bone out, skin on
Olive oil and salt for cooking
1kg waxy potatoes
3 French shallots, peeled and sliced
5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
3 anchovy fillets
1 handful chives, chopped
1 handful flat leaf parsley, chopped
100ml chicken stock

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 150c (or 130c if it is fan-forced).
  2. Take the pork shoulder, dry it with paper towel and then rub with the olive oil and salt.
  3. Wash the potatoes and then slice into pieces around ¾ cm thick.
  4. Get a large, deep roasting dish and add the sliced potatoes, shallots, garlic, anchovies and herbs. Mix each of the ingredients up, ensuring they are evenly spread.
  5. Add the stock and place the pork, skin side up on-top. Cook in the oven for 6 hours.
  6. Periodically check the pork to ensure it isn’t cooking too quickly and if it is, cover with foil.

Goan Pork Vindaloo Curry

.Reading time 2 minutes.
FullSizeRender(1)
Lordy!

Serves: 4

What happens when you bring together a spicy curry with flaking pork shoulder?

Everything and anything that is good about food!

This is a cracker of a curry. Really distinct and rich flavour, incredible texture of the pork, especially after the effort of really browning it off, great spice from the chillis. Yum!

Cooked at Nat’s parent’s place where we were dog-sitting, we served this with a chutney and some rice with coriander and it seriously hit every spot.

Ingredients

1kg pork shoulder cut into 3cm pieces
15 dried long red chillis
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp brown mustard seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
5 cardamom pods, crushed
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
⅓ c white vinegar
¼ c vegetable oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp finely grated giner
1 fresh bay leaf (or 2 dry)
2 c chicken stock
Chutney to serve

Method

  1. Place the chillis in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Soak for 10 minutes or until softened. Drain, discarding the stems and seeds.
  2. Using a mortar and pestle, grind soaked chillis, cumin, mustard seeds, fenugreek and cardamom until fine: better still, if you can outsource this part of the process! Transfer to a small bowl, then stir in the coriander and turmeric.
  3. Heat a small frying pan over a low heat and add the spice mixture and cook, stirring for 30 seconds or until fragrant. Transfer to a bowl, stir in the vinegar and set aside.
  4. Heat oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Season pork, then, working in batches, cook until the liquid evaporates and the pieces are browned all over. Transfer to a plate.
  5. Reduce heat to medium, add the onions and cook, stirring for 5 minutes or until softened.
  6. Add garlic and ginger, stirring for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add reserved spice mixture, bay leaf and chicken stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to low, return pork to the pan, cover and cook for 1½ hours or until pork is tender.
  7. Serve immediately with chutney.

12 Hour Pork

.Reading time 3 minutes.

Serves: 8 – 10

My mother first made this dish for the family when I was about 21. It was a revelation!

I had never had such slow cooked meat (remember, this was 15 years ago when slow cooking wasn’t a thing in Australia) and rather than being dry or inedible, it is incredibly moist and succulent.

And unlike all of the pulled porks and beefs out there, this one isn’t just a slab of slow cooked meat. Not at all; the fennel and garlic and chilli transform it into the most unique and extraordinary flavor, unlike anything you have ever tasted.

On one occasion that I cooked it for my flatmate Aaron and our friend Nilhan, we agreed not to eat all day and even spent a few hours in the sun playing tennis (in between bastings) to build up our hunger. I served it with a truffle mash and sauteed beans and I swear to God, it was the most unbelievable eating moment of my life as we stuffed it down with our fingers, eyes closed, heart rates at 110.

It is a bit of a ritual cooking this because you have to start early in the morning and keep basting all day.

Though a few hours in and the house smells amazing. The excitement starts.

People ask to peek the meat at around 8 hours. Start your truffle mash and pour a wine at hour 10 and the excitement is palpable. People refuse cheese and snacks in order to have as much room for the pork when it is served.

It is a long runway but it is worth it. Oh, only use a pork shoulder. Pork neck – as experience told me earlier this year – just will not cut it.

Ingredients

3 – 4kg Pork Shoulder Roast, no bone
4 tbs fennel seeds
5 tbs chopped garlic
3 tbs dried chili pepper flaked
1 tsp sea salt
¾ tsp pepper
Juice of 6 lemons
3 tbs olive oil

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 250 celcius.
  2. Mix the together fennel seeds, chopped garlic, chili pepper and salt and pepper and set aside. Mix lemon juice and olive oil and set aside.
  3. Stab the Pork Shoulder deeply all over; around 7 times on east side including edges.
  4. Massage the fennel seed mixture into all sides of the roast and place it in a roasting pan. Roast for 30 minutes.
  5. Turn the oven down to 120 celcius.
  6. Take the Pork Shoulder out of the oven and loosen from the bottom of the pan. Pour half the lemon mixture over the roast, loosely cover with foil and out back in oven.
  7. Roast for 12 hours or so, adding the rest of the lemon mixture after 6 hours and basting the pork every hour.