Roast pork
This hugely easy method of roasting pork makes the meat wonderfully succulent.
Ingredients:
60g salt.
1 litre warm water.
1 large piece of belly pork (about 12 by 15 inches but smaller would work too).
Method:
Dissolve the salt in the water and allow to cool in a large, lidded container.
Place the pork in the salt water, cover with the lid and allow to brine for 24 hours in the fridge.
The morning a day before the lunch (about 1000), remove the pork from the brine and place in a roasting tray.
Place the tray in the oven at 50C.
24 hours later, remove the pork and pour off any liquid.
Remove the crackling and place on a tray in the oven to complete crisping.
Remove the bones from the pork before covering the meat with foil and returning the tray to the oven for a further 3 to 4 hours to ensure that the thickest part of the meat has reached at least 70C.
Remove the pork and crackling and keep warm while cooking the roast potatoes.
My Tips:
The brining for 24 hours is optional. I use a large 4 litre ice-cream box.
My gas oven has a 75C Slow Cooking setting but, if the setting is reduced to the lowest possible before the oven would switch off, it heats at 50C.
If slow cooking the chicken, it can go into the same oven at the 24-hour stage to allow it some 3-4 hours to also reach 70C.
Pour the pork juices into a container that can go into the freezer. After an hour or so, the fat will have solidified and can be discarded before adding the juices to the gravy.
There was a medley of vegetables: carrots and peppers for colour; sugar snaps and French beans for texture; some asparagus stems for seasonal flavour; courgettes, cauliflower and broccoli florets for bulk plus a couple of thinly sliced leeks. All were prepared to fork-size the day before, stored in plastic bags overnight in the fridge and simply steamed on the day.