Crispy Pork Picnic Roast Food

PORK ROAST WITH CRISPY PORK CRACKLING

Steps:

• Dry skin: Pat the skin dry with paper towels. If time permits, leave in the fridge uncovered overnight (even 1 hr helps). If not, pat extra well.
• Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan).
• Season flesh: Sprinkle pork flesh with 1 1/2 tsp salt, all the pepper and all fennel seeds and 1 tbsp olive oil. Rub into flesh, right into all the crevices and cracks.
• Salt skin: Flip pork, drizzle skin with 1 tsp oil, then rub all over with fingers. Sprinkle all over with remaining 1 1/2 tsp salt, taking care to get even coverage. Un-salted patches will not become bubbly crackling, it will be a hard flat sheet.
• Garlic & onion bed: Place halved garlic bulbs and onion in roasting pan. Place pork skin side up on top of them.
• Wine: Carefully pour wine into the pan, being sure not to wet the skin. Transfer to oven.
• Lower oven: Immediately turn oven down to 160°C/320°F (140°C fan).
• Slow roast: Roast for 2 1/2 hours.
• Level at 1 1/2 hours: Check pork after 1 1/2 hours to see if the pork is warped and the skin's overall surface is significantly unlevelled. If so, adjust to make the skin surface as level as possible using balls of foil and moving large dislodged pork pieces to the side (key tip for crispy crackling, Note 3). Then return to oven for the remaining 1 hour.
• Check pan & salt on skin: If pan is drying out, add some water. If there are bald patches on the skin without salt (eg it fell off), spray lightly with oil spray (or brush lightly with oil) then sprinkle with salt. (Remember, salt = bubbly skin!)
• Increase heat: Turn oven up to 250°C/485°F (all oven types), or as high as it will go if your oven won't go this high.
• Make skin crisp: Return pork to oven for 30 minutes, rotating pan as needed, until skin is crisp and bubbly all over. If needed, use foil patches, secured with water soaked toothpicks, to cover parts that are done and keep crisping up remaining patches.
• Rest: Transfer pork to serving platter, tent loosely with foil (don't worry, crackling stays super-crisp) and rest for 20 minutes (stays warm up to 1 hour). Then slice using a serrated knife.
• Serve with gravy. Don't pour gravy over crackling - pour it off to the side! See note for reheating.

PORK PICNIC POT ROAST

Steps:

• Season pork roast all over with salt and black pepper and place in a slow cooker. Spread garlic over pork; add carrots, potatoes, onion, and celery to slow cooker. Pour broth over roast and vegetables.
• Cook on High for 2 hours. Baste roast and vegetables with broth cooking liquid; continue cooking on high until tender, 2 hours more. Let rest before slicing, 5 to 10 minutes.

SLOW ROASTED PORK PICNIC SHOULDER

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 450 F/230 C/Gas Mark 8.
• Remove from the oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving.
• Enjoy.

REALLY SLOW ROAST PORK SHOULDER WITH CRISPY, CRISPY CRACKLING AND GARLIC ROAST POTATOES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Grind the fennel seeds, peppercorns and salt in a spice grinder. Place the pork shoulder into a roasting pan and cut the rind into cross hatches. Rub the spice mixture into the meat and put it in the oven for 4 hours.
• Arrange the potatoes around and under the meat and put it back into the oven for 1 hour.
• Now add the garlic, shallots and carrots around the pork. If your roasting pan is not large enough to accommodate all the vegetables, place them in a separate roasting pan. Cook for 30 minutes, then add the pears. They don't need much cooking time and will disintegrate if cooked too long. Cook for another 30 minutes
• When the meat is tender and flakes with a fork, remove it and the vegetables and keep warm. This will give the pork time to rest and become more tender. If the pork rind is not crispy, put it under the broiler for a few minutes until it is really crunchy and crispy.
• To make the gravy, pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat from the roasting pan. Stir the flour into the roasting pan, add the wine, put the roasting pan onto a burner over medium-high heat and cook until the wine is reduced by half. If not using the wine, do this with the stock. Now add the stock and scrape off any bits of meat and vegetable on the bottom of the pan. Taste and add any seasoning if you think it needs it.
• If the gravy is too thin, make a paste in a bowl with 1 tablespoon and 1 tablespoon flour. Add some of the hot gravy to the small bowl and stir. Add this to the hot stock, stirring constantly and bring to a boil. The gravy will thicken slightly.
• If your gravy is too thick, just add a touch more stock. Serve the meat and vegetables with the gravy.
• This dish struggles to make it to the table as the family descends upon it while I am trying to finish the gravy! Use any leftovers for pork sandwiches with some crunchy pickle.

ROAST CRISPY PORK

Steps:

• Pierce the rind side of the pork (a roasting fork is good for this) until the skin is covered with fine holes. Put the joint rind side up on a rack over the sink. Bring a pot of water to the boil and, using a large ladle, pour hot water over the rind side of the pork several times. Set the pork aside.
• Heat a wok or large frying pan until it is very hot. Add the salt, peppercorns and five-spice and stir-fry for about 30 seconds until hot and well mixed. Remove from the heat, stir in the sugar, then allow to cool slightly. When it is warm enough to handle, rub this mixture on the flesh side of the pork. Leave, flesh side up, on the rack at room temperature for a minimum of 3 hours (overnight is ideal).
• To roast Sichuan peppercorns: heat a wok or heavy frying pan to a medium heat. Add the peppercorns (you can cook about 140g/5oz at a time) and stir-fry them for about 5 minutes until they brown slightly and start to smoke. Remove from the heat and let them cool. Grind the peppercorns in a pepper mill or using a mortar and pestle. Seal tightly in a screw-top jar until required. Alternatively, keep the whole roasted peppercorns in a well-sealed container and grind them when required.
• Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/ fan 180C. Turn the pork rind side up on the rack and put the rack over a roasting tin with 2-3cm hot water in the bottom. Roast for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C/gas 4/fan 160C and continue to roast for 2 hours, checking every now and then that your tin is not dry - splash in some hot water from the kettle if it is. Increase the heat to 230C/gas 8/fan 210C for the last 15 minutes. Remove the pork from the oven and leave it to rest (about 20 minutes). Serve carved into large cubes.

PORCHETTA PORK ROAST

Steps:

• Score skin and fat all over pork, taking care not to cut down to the meat.
• In a food processor or mortar and pestle, combine fennel fronds, rosemary, sage, garlic, lemon zest, salt, fennel seed, red pepper flakes and black pepper. Pour in oil. Pulse or mash until it forms a paste. Rub all over pork. If using a boneless roast, tie with kitchen string at 2-inch intervals. Transfer to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 6 hours and preferably overnight.
• Remove pork from refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before you want to cook it. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Transfer pork to a rimmed baking sheet and roast 35 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325 degrees and cook an additional 2 hours 45 minutes to 4 hours, until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 180 degrees, which will give you sliceable, tender meat. (Bone-in roasts will take longer than boneless ones.)
• Transfer pork to a cutting board and let rest 15 to 30 minutes before serving. Make sure everyone gets some of the cracklings.