Slow Cooked, Twelve-Hour Pork With Cider Apples

If you are looking for a recipe to feed several people in the colder months, this slow cooked twelve-hour pork with cider apples is delicious.

If you were lucky enough to secure a copy of local Orange Author Sophie Hansen’s first book Local Is Lovely, published in 2014 hold onto it! There’s lots of seasonal favourites in there, although sadly it is now out of print.

The Twelve-hour pork with apples and cider recipe on page 126 is particularly good and I’ve adapted it to enjoy to my personal taste. I’ve added fennel seeds and fennel bulbs because I love this vegetable and think it caramelises well. I also like to keep my apples whole, cored and peeled but not sliced.

Trust me, this dish is a crowd pleaser and convenient enough to prepare if you are planning a getaway somewhere too; like a weekend away in the snow! It is also rich enough to enjoy all the way through Autumn and Winter.

Recipe – Serves 8

Prep: 25 minutes and Cooking Time: 12 Hours

3 kg boned pork shoulder (ask your Butcher to score the pork skin)

3 tsp sea salt

10 small garlic cloves, peeled and chopped

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1-2 tsp fennel seeds

2 tsp brown sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

4 large or 6 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored whole.

2 leeks, washed and sliced 1cm thick (white part only)

2 fennel bulbs (cut into half and remove the heart from centre), cut again into quarter chunks.

750 ml dry apple cider

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 220 C *.
2. Add the salt, garlic, chilli, fennel seeds, sugar and olive oil to a mortar and pestle and pound to combine. Rub this paste all over pork, pushing it into and under the scored skin. Place the pork, skin side up, in a large lidded casserole dish* and roast it, uncovered , for 20 minutes, or until the skin is crisp and golden. Remove the pork from the oven and reduce the temperature to 100 C.  Add apples, leeks, fennel and cider to the roasting dish, cover it with a lid* and return the pork to the oven for 11 hours.
3. Half and hour before serving, check to see that the pork and apples aren’t looking dry – if they are, add a splash or two of water and turn apples over. Increase the oven temperature to 220 C, remove the lid* and cook for another 30 minutes, until  the pork is lightly crisp. Remove it from the oven, carve and transfer to a warm platter with the apples and leek.

*If you are like me and get up at 5:30am to preheat the oven, you can pre-prepare the pork with rub uncovered in the fridge the night before. I preheat the oven to 250 C and place pork from fridge (without resting to room temp) in for 20 minutes at this temp and then turn down to 100 C.

*If you do not have a large lidded casserole dish, use a large roasting dish with two sheets of foil as a lid which works well.

*If you love crackling (and my boys do), remove the pork at end to rest and carefully cut away the pork crackling skin and place under a grill for a few minutes to finish it all the way through while resting the pork. Best crackling and works a treat!

Notes: 

I like serving this with steamed greens and baby new potatoes to balance this rich dish. However crunchy roast potatoes and salad is a wonderful side too.

Wine pair: Swinging Bridge wines; Mrs Payten Chardonnay and Hill Park Pinot Noir