Roast Shoulder of Pork with Crackling

The main reason I've chosen to put this one on the blog is that it turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined! We bought this shoulder of pork in a kind of local farmers market...thing called the Goods Shed. It's a lovely place, with a butcher, a cheese monger, a fishmonger, a guy who sells fancy beer, a baker, a veg stand, and a few other things, and it's open almost every day. We also usually buy our veg there, as it's all locally grown and very tasty. It's also cheaper for most things than Sainsburys, and much much nicer. We go there on a Sunday morning for a magnificent breakfast cooked by Patrick of.....wait for it....Patrick's Kitchen. Anyway it's a great place, and highly recommended for anyone who happens to be over this direction!

Ingredients-

1 shoulder of pork (Surprise surprise!) boned and rolled, with the skin on mine was about 1.5kg

3-4 medium carrots

2 parsnips

1 large red onion

a handful of sage

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 225°C.

2. Score the skin, about 2cm apart, only cutting down as far as the fat, not into the meat. Rub salt into the scores and then season the rest of the pork with some salt and pepper.

3. Put onto a baking tray and place into the oven for about 30 mins.

4. Take out of the oven and cover with a double layer of foil, reduce the oven temperature to 175°C and pop back in for 3 and a half hours.

5. Cut your veg into nice chunky pieces. Then take the pork out of the oven and out of the baking tray. Place the veg onto the tray and toss a little with the juices and . Then put the pork on top of the veg, and put back into the oven for an hour.

6. Turn the oven right up to 250°C for a further 20 mins, or until the crackling is nice and crispy.

7. This one is optional, if you like, put the baking tray onto the hob (if it's the right type), and add a pint of stock, or even half a pint of water and a glass of white wine. Boil it scraping the bits off the tray, until it's reduced by half. Then add a small bit of cold butter, cut up into small cubes and stir quickly into the gravy to make it shiny. 

The picture on the right is just one I wanted to add as I just tore those bits off with a fork, I just used the knife to hold the pork. It just falls apart so easily and is lovely and moist. This is definitely one to try. 

Also big thanks to the butcher in the Goods Shed today, who helped with tips on getting the crackling nice and crispy,while keeping the meat tender.