UK Catering Forum

This is a nice recipe that I served up this week

5lb loin of pork ((2.25kg)
- bone removed
half small onion
1 tablespoon crushed sea salt
1 tablespoon plain flour
10 fl oz cider
10 fl oz vegetable stock
salt and black pepper
for the apples
1lb pork sausage meat (450g)
8 small apples (Cox's)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1 heaped dessertspoon chopped fresh parsley
melted butter
salt and pepper
Get a solid roasting tine that is not too deeep and has a roasting rack

Preheat oven to gas 9, 475F , 240C
Score skin of the portk(I use a craft knife for this. a Stanley knife is good, too!)
If the roasting pan is too deep your crackling wont be crunchy because you will create too much steam. Keep the rind of the port so it is above the sides of the tin. I use a roasting rack but you can scrunch up foil and put it under the meat if you haven't got one.
Put the onion halves in the tin. These will turn caramelly and help give a nice flavour to the gravy and help it turn brown.
Put 1tablespoon crushed sea salt over the skin and press it in. Put the pork on a high shelp and roast for 20 minutes. The turn the heat down to gas mark 5, 375F, 190C and cook for two and a half hours more. You don't need to baste it.
Thirty minutes before then end of the cooking time get the stuffed apples ready. Mix sausage meat, chopped thyme and parsley and season with salt and pepper. remove the core from the apples and then make the tunnel bigger by scooping out a bit more apple. You divide your sausagemeat into 8 pieces and stuff the apples with it. There will be extra sausage meat but just shape this on top of the apples. Make an incision round the middle of the apples with the point of a sharp knife. Brush each apple with melted butter and put the apples on another baking tray.
To tell if your meat is cooked put a sharp knife or a kewer into the thickest part of the meat and if the juice is clear (not pink) then it is done. Take the pork out of the oven and put the apples in to roast for about 25 minutes. Let the pork rest for 30 minutes before you carve it. Meanwhile,tilt the tin and spoon the fat off. The onion will be black and burnt looking but leave it in and put the roasting tin on the heat, (low) and sprinkle the flour in. Work it into the juice with a wooden spoon. Turn the heat up a little and gradually add the cider and stock whisking until there is smooth gravy. Season. Throw the onion away.
Very nice.