Friday, August 22, 2008

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 :-)

10 comments:

FnL said...

That sounds delicious. I can't believe you cook all this food! Wish I was nearby b/c I would def volunteer for taste-testing :-)

Unknown said...

Volunteers are always welcome fnl :-)I was going to begin a sourdough starter today but it isn't warm enough - going to have to wait for spring - so now I am wondering what else I can create lol

Unknown said...

wow...you blow me away MG, i don't think i ever put that much thought into a meal! well done my dear, and fnl, back off, i'm first in line to taste test...lol... as long as there are no mushrooms!

Unknown said...

There was no mushrooms Miss K :-) I just sent you an email about another girls night - would be happy to repeat this for the occasion (or whatever else if it comes to that lol) :-)

Justine said...

I've just ordered my pork from the butcher to cook for Father's Day. Could you tell me, is the pork meant to be rolled, as the butcher's rolling it for me. Just wondering if I should call back and ask him to 'hold the roll'!

PS - I live at the foot of the Blue Mountains.

Unknown said...

Sincere apologies for the very late response Justine .... my pork came rolled but I just unrolled it. Thinking about it, I think it could work either way though.

Apologies again ....

Anonymous said...

This sounds delicious and I would like to try it with a pork belly - being the Yank that I am, I have one question - What is Sheer (semi-sweet, even at that)?

Thanks a bunch!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Go for it Anonymous! I have done it with pork belly and it was divine. The "sheer" should have read "sherry" (how embarrassing!) - correcting that now lol

Anonymous said...

Thank-you for clarifying that - I have often found ingredients have different names across the continents! I am starting the recipe today and think I can manange the sherry quiet easily! Looking forward to the yummy flavors - here we have a lot of snow on the ground and a good roast is just what we need!