Slow-roasted shoulder of pork with fennel, garlic and chilli
Pork & gammon
Slow-roasted shoulder of pork with fennel, garlic and chilli
An old River Café wood fired oven favourite, but still good cooked in a normal oven at home.
Ingredients
- 1.3kg shoulder of pork
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp fennel seed
- 2 dried chillies, crumbled
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 lemons, juiced
- salt and pepper
Method
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Step 1
Preheat oven to 230°C/Gas mark 8. With a sharp knife score the pork, making every other score deep enough to just cut the meat.
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Step 2
Mix the garlic, fennel seed, chilli, salt and pepper together in a mortar and pestle. If you don't have one put the fennel seed in a plastic bag and gently bash with a rolling pin before mixing in the other ingredients. Rub into all surfaces of the meat, making sure it penetrates the score marks.
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Step 3
Place the pork on a rack in a roasting tin and cook for 20-30 minutes, until the crackling begins to blister.
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Step 4
Mix the olive oil and two thirds of the lemon juice. Turn the oven down to 110°C/Gas Mark and frac1/4;, turn the joint over and baste with half the lemon juice/oil mix. Cook for another 3-4 hours, turning and basting occasionally.
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Step 5
Lift the pork onto a carving board and deglaze the pan with the remaining lemon juice. Neat carving will be a problem – it's easier to break the crackling off and carve in thick chunks.
