Thursday, October 22, 2009

Jamie Oliver's Slow Roasted Pork


Hey Foodies!

See recipe far below :)

I made this Slow Roasted Pork for a group of 10 adults + 2 children recently

It needs ample cooking time so Andre and I woke up at 6:15AM to prepare the pork and put it in the oven in order to serve it at 7PM that evening.

Tips & Experiences :D

When I ordered the pork shoulder I asked for the pork shoulder “as is” - skin on and bone in. When I got there Saturday they gave it to me without the skin. I was not happy and very stressed. I had to follow the recipe exactly.

I said “ the recipe says I need the skin!!! It has to roast for 12 hours …I specifically ordered it with the skin!!”..lol…The butcher assured me that It would be fine and that I could just cook it with the cover on. I left, disgruntled..I wasn’t going to have the crispy skin..

Anyway, I roasted at it at 500 for 30 mins (no cover) in order for it to brown. Then I lowered the temp to 250, I covered it for the rest of the cooking time. Luckily , it worked out perfectly.

I also had told the butcher that I needed it tied, like a traditional roast. He said “ that doesn’t make sense” ..

I thought, ok..fine …maybe I don’t know what I’m saying…. But during the cooking process…after many hours, I found that my roast had split in half. I cursed the butcher and put the roast back in the oven. (It doesn’t really matter because when you serve it , the meat is supposed to be pulled away and served broken apart).. but it should have been tied even just for handling. When it was time to remove the roast from the pan into the serving platter it was impossible to maneuver, it kept breaking.

For the rub, when I crushed my fennel seeds with the salt..it smelled overpowering. I thought it would be too strong but I did not stray from the recipe and it wasn’t overpowering at all in the end. It was just right. Always trust Jamie 

The gravy or “jus” was so tasty! I did not add flour.

This recipe was great..cause you prepare the roast and forget about it for 10-12 hours…and it’s a crowd pleaser.
Another little bonus is that a 11-12 pound roast that fed 12 people cost 25.00 plus we have leftovers.
Tonight, we’re having pulled pork sandwiches with the leftovers :D

You have to try it and get back to me.

Enjoy it!

PS: As sides, I made thick sliced potatoes (new potatoes, skin on) in the oven with chicken stock , a little olive oil and sage leaves. I also boiled some roman (green) cauliflower and just drizzled olive oil, salt + pepper. I did not make beans as suggested.

---------------------------------------RECIPE-----------------------------

OVERNIGHT SLOW-ROASTED PORK – JAMIE OLIVER


Serves 12

2 tablespoons fennel seeds

1 tablespoon sea or rock salt

2 fennel bulbs, trimmed and roughly chopped

4 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

3 onions peeled and roughly chopped

1 bulb of garlic, cloves unpeeled and roughly smashed

Bunch of fresh thyme

1 11–13 lb piece of pork shoulder on the bone, preferably free-range or organic, skin scored

Olive oil

750ml bottle of white wine

1 pint chicken or vegetable stock



Jamie says: "Pork that's cooked this way gives you the most meltingly tender meat. This is the last job we do in the evening at the restaurant before we go home, so that when we get to work the next day we have the best roast pork to serve for lunch—you can do the same at home, as it's incredibly easy. This recipe only works with a whole shoulder, so it's an ideal dish to serve on Christmas Day when you have a lot of people around (as long as you remember to put it in the oven on Christmas Eve!). Ask your butcher to prepare you a shoulder roast from the whole shoulder as you would a shoulder of lamb."

"P.S. This is a fantastic celebration meal, but before you go out and buy your meat, make sure you've got a pan—and an oven—that's big enough."



1. Preheat your oven to maximum. Usually 500 .

2. Smash the fennel seeds with the salt in a pestle and mortar until fine.

3. Put the roughly chopped vegetables, garlic, and thyme sprigs into a large roasting pan.

4. Pat the pork shoulder with olive oil and sit it on top of the vegetables. Now massage all the smashed fennel seeds into the skin of the pork, making sure you push them right into all the scores to maximize the flavor.

5. Put the pork in your preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes or until it's beginning to color, then turn your oven down to 250°F and cook the pork for 9 to 12 hours, until the meat is soft and sticky and you can pull it apart easily with a fork.

6. Tip all the wine into the roasting tray and let it cook for another hour to give you a perfect sauce.

7. Once the pork is out of the oven, let it rest for half an hour before removing it to a large board. I like to brush off any excess salt from the meat, then I mash up the veg in the pan using a potato masher. Add the stock to the roasting pan, put it on the heat and boil until you have a lovely intensely flavored gravy (you can thicken it with a little sieved flour if you like but I prefer mine light). The pork is great served with some good cranberry beans, braised greens, your roast veg mash and tasty sauce.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Steph! Great post.

    As the site moderator, I'd like to request you add the "recipe" tag to this post.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you! How about the recipe itself. You actually tried it that time. Tell us about what you thought.

    Cool, I will.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. People may like their decadent, triple-chocolate, multi-tiered cakes, but I'd have this roasted pork for supper & dessert.

    ReplyDelete