Moist roast pork with crackling, stuffing, rich gravy and a ton of potatoes and vegetables is a stunning meal to serve for Sunday lunch. This recipe is for 6 people.
1.2kg pork shoulder
200g sausage meat
Potatoes (whatever is seasonal)
2 onions
6 carrots
6 parsnips
Head of Broccoli
Table spoon of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 crusts of bread
Bottle of cider
Cranberry sauce
*I've used pork shoulder as this is fattier, therefore better crackling, but when used right can be very tasty and much cheaper than loin*
Pre-heat your oven to its highest setting.
First the spuds. I've not added a weight here, because this is subjective. Personally, I always make far too many so I can eat them cold the next day with horse radish, my favourite snack. Wash, peel and wash the potatoes. Then add to a pan of cold water and bring to the boil. When it boils add a good hit of salt to the water.
*I use Maldon sea salt for cooking, it's the best. However, I always have a tub of cheap table salt for adding to water.*
Boil for about 5 minutes until they start going soft on the outside, but are still uncooked inside. Drain (reserve the water) and give them a shake to fluff up the outside. Then leave to cool down.
If you get your pork from a decent butcher, they should score the fat for you. If not, you should invest in a Stanley Knife for your kitchen. Nothing will cut through the outer skin better. Rub sea salt into the scored skin and rub with olive oil. Quarter one of the onions and place in the bottom of a pan (leave the skin on) and sit the pork on top. Put the pork on the top shelf for about half an hour, after 20 minutes keep checking on it, until the fat has gone crisp, but not burnt. While this is cooking, put a roasting tin on the bottom shelf of the oven and add fat/dripping. After a few minutes, put the tin on a medium heat and add the potatoes. Sprinkle lots of sea salt all over and a little black pepper and turn it in the hot oil (I recommend wearing an apron at this point.) Then put back in the oven.
Prep your carrots and parsnips by peeling and quartering (cut them into 6 if they're very big.) When the crackling is crisp, swap the potatoes onto the top shelf and turn the oven down to gas mark 6. Pour the bottle of cider into the roasting tin with the pork until it comes up to the top of the onions. Add the carrots and parsnips to the potatoes, season and turn them all in the oil.The pork should be checked after an hour. Insert a knife into the meat and check if the juices run clear.
For the stuffing, blitz the crusts into crumbs and add the onion, thyme and a good whack of seasoning. Pulse the blender to leave a chunky mix and add the sausage meat. Stir in together and add to a ceramic bowl. Cover in oiled baking paper and put on the bottom shelf.
When the pork has cooked, remove the crackling carefully, with a decent knife, and trim the fat until there's just a small layer on the top. Leave this in a warm place to rest (this is where a microwave comes in useful.) Keep turning the potatoes and vegetables to brown all over. Put the roasting tin with the cider on top of the hob on a medium heat. Add a couple of bay leaves and 2 table spoons of cranberry sauce. Bring to the boil and reduce to a low simmer. At this point take the baking paper off the stuffing.
Turn the broccoli into florets and add to a pan of boiling potato water and boil for a couple of minutes. Drain (reserve the water) and add the broccoli to the potatoes to keep warm. Check the cider gravy and add the potato water if it's reduced too much.
Then simply slice the meat, put everything into warm bowls on the table and open another bottle of chilled cider.
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