12 Hour Pork with Cider with Apple Aioli

Another recipe from the new Australian Good Food magazine - and it is to die for - very, very highly recommended! Please don't be put off by the 11 hours - you put it on in the morning and forget it until dinner time. And it means the meat is absolutely soft and tender.

3 kg boned shoulder pork
2 teaspoons sea salt
8 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 Cup sherry (I used semi-sweet)
1/4 Cup olive oil
2 granny smith apples, unpeeled, halved, sliced
2 leeks, well washed, sliced
3 Cups apple cider (I used sweet but it was a real brand so it wasn't as sweet as, say, Strongbow)

Preheat oven to 240 C or 220 C fan. Score the pork skin without cutting all the way through.

Combine sea salt, garlic, chilli, sugar, sherry and oil and pound in a mortar and pestle. Rub paste over pork, pushing it between the scored fat. Place pork, skin-side up, in a large lidded casserole dish. Roast, uncovered for 20 minutes, until skin is crisp and golden. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 120 C or 100 C fan. Add apples, leeks and cider to dish. Cover with lid and return to oven for 11 hours.

Half an hour before serving, check pork, apples and leeks aren't dry. If they are, splash over a little water and then increase temperature to 240 C or 220 C fan, remove lid and cook for another 30 minutes, until pork is lightly crisped.

Carve pork and transfer to a warm platter with leeks and apples. Top with crackling and serve with Apple Aioli.

Apple Aioli

1 whole garlic bulb
200 ml mild olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
3 medium granny smith apples, unpeeled, cored
3 egg yolks
Juice 1 lemon
1 teaspoon sea salt

Slice top off garlic bulb, drizzle with a little oil and wrap in foil. Place apples in a small baking tray, add garlic and roast with pork at 120 C or 110 C fan for 45 minutes. Once apples and garlic are soft and collapsed, remove and cool.

Meanwhile whisk egg yolks, lemon juice and sea salt for 1 minute. Add oil in a thin stream, whisking quickly until emulsified. Continue whisking in oil until a thick mayonnaise forms.

Mash apple flesh, squeeze out garlic and stir through mayonnaise. Season to taste and serve with pork.

My notes: I forgot to buy leeks so I left them out and I don't believe the dish suffered at all. I got my butcher to score the skin for me - so much easier. I also used a smaller roasting pan so I didn't need so much cider. The first photo is taken when I added the apples to the dish. The second photo has enough meat for three meals (but I did eat all the salad). For health reasons I didn't serve the crackling (or the fat) but it did look fantastic! I made the mayonnaise in the food processor - so much easier :-)