Slow Roast Pulled Pork
(Serves 20)
This is an amazing recipe for when you’re entertaining a large amount of people. It’s impressive and delicious, but simple to follow. Mum and I adapted this from a Jamie Oliver recipe and loved it.
The recipe uses Shoulder Pork, which is more fatty than the traditional leg that most people roast, but if you cook the meat for long enough, virtually all that fat will melt away, until the meat is so succulent you can tease it apart with a fork. When we first brought this out of the oven, it smelled so good that my grandmother couldn’t help coming over and getting involved with a fork too!
We worked out that for a 5kg piece of Shoulder Pork left on the bone you will be able to feed approx. 20 people*. It is therefore perfect as a roast for the whole family or for a garden party served simply with salad and buns.
You will need:
2 tablespoons fennel seeds crushed | 1 fennel bulb roughly chopped | 1 tablespoon sea salt | 2-3 medium carrots roughly chopped | 2 onions peeled and roughly chopped | 1 bulb garlic cloves smashed | bunch of fresh thyme | 5kg piece of high welfare shoulder pork (ask for a piece left on the bone and scored) | olive oil | a bottle of white wine | 500 ml chicken stock
How to
-Preheat your oven to its maximum temperature.
-Place your vegetables in a large baking tray
-Place your piece of pork on top, skin side up, cover in olive oil and massage the fennel seeds and salt into the skin and gaps where it has been scored. 4 -Put in the oven for about 20 minutes until the skin has really started to crisp up. If it looks like the vegetables are starting to burn, add a glass of water.
-Turn the oven down to 120C and cook for 6 hours. 6 | Remove the pork from the oven and add the bottle of wine to the dish. Let this cook away for another hour, occasionally basting the meat with the sauce to let the flavour of the wine soak into the meat and keep it nice and tender.
-Take the pork from the tray and let it rest for half an hour to an hour covered in lots of foil and a tea towel to keep the heat in. 8 | Meanwhile pour the sauce into a pyrex jug, let settle and remove the fat from the top. Place in a saucepan with the stock and let this cook down into lovely gravy.
-When it comes to carving the meat, just take your time and remove from the bone. The meat really will fall away, so don’t worry, no tricky butchery involved. Maybe break up the crackling first and set to one side then you really can take a fork and just pull away at it.
Recipe by Lauren and Claire
Adapted from recipe in Jamie Oliver’s “Cook With Jamie”
*This won’t be available at the counter, so just ask a team member in store or ring ahead and ask for a piece to be put aside.
