Slow Cooked Pork

I am usually not a big fan of cooking large portions of meat, either being roasted or cooked on a stove-top. But different times demand different strategies. Shopping once in two or three weeks, instead of going to the shops regularly, or even blind online buying, as we started to do again now, during the fierce second wave of pandemic in Melbourne, forced me to adapt strategies of buying and cooking meat in bulk. Fresh deli and ham are off the table for several months  and it made a serious gap in my husband’s option to have his occasional sandwich. Slow roasting or slow cooking 2kg+ piece of pork allows to have two different type of meat. Roasting gives wonderful warm or cold cuts of flavoursome natural meat, while cooking meat in a Dutch oven or any heavy duty pot results in amazingly tender and juicy meat, perfect in itself or as an ingredient for multiple other dishes.

Sliced to desired thickness pork can be served warm, or stored refrigerated for up to 5 days. More prolong storage demands freezing, that can also be done in individual portions, wrapped in baking paper for convenience.

The second approach is also very simple. All you need is time, large and heavy pot, some vegetables and spices, to cook pork so tender, that it nearly melts in your mouth.

Slow cooked pork served with new potatoes and blue cheese with papaya as a side salad

With pot cooking, I take all the skin with fat off and make small crackling pieces with caramelised onions in lard.

Roasted pork

Ingredients:

quantities depend on the size of meat piece

• large piece of pork without bones with skin on (usually sold in butchers netting)
• garlic
• sweet red chilli pepper/red capsicum, hot chilli pepper, garlic, salt, black pepper, olive oil for marinade
• dry thyme, fresh rosemary, smoked paprika, sea salt, black pepper to prepare for roasting
• olive oil for frying before roasting

Preparation:

• blend 1 red sweet chilli pepper, 2 long chilli peppers, medium heat with seeds, 4-5 cloves of garlic with sea salt, black pepper and 1 tea spoon of olive oil to coarse paste consistency
• take butchers netting off, the piece of meat will unfold
• apply the paste to all exposed meat surfaces
• season with salt and black pepper
• make several incisions in thick places and insert slices of garlic in them
• cover the meat and refrigerate it for 18-14 hours
• season the meat with more salt and pepper, apply dry thyme, smoked paprika and fresh rosemary
• fold the meat again, keep it together with butchers string
• rub sea salt into pork skin
• heat the frying pan, add olive oil
• fry on medium to high heat all the surfaces with skin
• I cover the pan with a bowl to prevent fat spilling
• line baking tray with overlapping aluminium foil
• use baking paper for inner wrapping
• place pork with the main skin surface up
• wrap pork tight first in baking paper, then in aluminium foil
• bake in preheated to 200C fan forced oven for 60 minutes
• reduce the temperature to 160C, bake for another 2 hours
• open up and expose pork
• I usually transfer meat into a lower tray to have all sides with skin expose to heat
• roast at 170C for 30-40 minutes, timing depends on how the skin is getting roasted to the right colour and texture
• rest pork in the switched off oven
• serve warm or as cold cuts

There will be plenty of juices left in the baking tray. I put these juices through the sieve, cool them down to room temperature and refrigerate. Two distinct separate fractions will appear. Lard on the top and concentrated broth on the bottom. It is very easy to separate them. Broth portion can be frozen in pieces, or it can be reheated to liquid condition and subsequently frozen in individual ice cubes. I like to use them for sauces and when making polenta.

Slow cooked pork in the pot

Ingredients:

The selection of vegetables added to the pot was based purely on what was left in the fridge.

• large piece of pork without bones, skin and fat were cut off and cooked separately

vegetables

• celery
• carrots
• red cabbage
• frozen coriander stems

spices

• cumin seeds
• fennel seeds
• caraway seeds
• garlic
• chilli pepper with seeds
• black pepper

Preparation:

• cut meat in large chunks (optional)
• fry each piece in olive oil in a hot frying pan
• place cut and sliced vegetables on the bottom of the Dutch oven
• place sealed pieces of pork on top
• add water to just cover the meat
• add all spices
• cook to the boiling point
• reduce the heat to minimum
• cover the pot with a lid and cook 3-4 hours, I cook until the meat falls apart
• let the meat rest in a broth, it will become even more tender
• divide meat in portion size applicable to your family
• I pack it into glass containers and cover with broth for storage, refrigerated or frozen, to retain tenderness and moisture

Served with new potatoes or prepared in teriyaki sauce with pasta.

Crackling with caramelised onions

ingredients

• skin and fat, diced in small pieces
• white and red onions, organic, homegrown
• cumin seeds
• caraway seeds
• sea salt
• coarse black pepper

preparation

• heat the frying pan
• put fat and skin pieces in the pan, add seeds
• fry on medium heat until desired texture
• take all pieces out of the pan
• add onions, sliced in semi-circles
• fry on low/medium heat until completely translucent
• season in the process to your liking
• for the final product mix both portions together
• check the seasoning

Freshly prepared

Refrigerated

Served as the topping for brown rice with vegetables