roast pork

Delicious, savoury roast pork. The porky prince of Sundays. Except I had this on Saturday. Er.....

I watched Jamie's programme on British pork, and immediately raced out for some Freedom Food British shoulder of pork from Sainsbury's. Can't recall ever having roast with shoulder before, usually loin or leg. So it was an experiment.

Following Jamie's recipe, I scored the fat for crackling and smeared it with coarse salt. It went in the oven on a very high heat, then after half an hour turned it down to a normal-ish 180C. At this point the skin was all puffed up. After another hour I piled the baking tray with celery, carrots, red onions, sage and bay and plonked the pork back on top. After about another hour and a half the pork was as above, golden-dark and dripping with flavour. Crucially it was also possible to pull the meat apart with fingers - therefore done. I put the meat to one side and covered with foil to rest. (I didn't actually eat it for perhaps another hour and a half).

Meanwhile the tray went on the hob and I put a splash of Marsala in with the veg, scraping away to get all the yummy black bits off the bottom. Once reduced I added veg stock and stirred until I was left with a thick, rich dark gravy. After pushing through a sieve I had a gloriously savoury meat juice.

Served with cabbage, carrots and - what else? - roast potatoes, it was great. Nice one Jamie - support British pigs!

sausage casserole

There must be a million of these types of recipes. And this one's pretty straightforward: pork sausages fried quickly until browned, then a splash of Marsala for fun. A tin of tomatoes, cannelini beans and a jar of bacony pasta sauce, and after some bubbling away, that's it.

Ladies and gentlemen, winter has arrived.

(PS. the ham wasn't ready yet - another two days here I think)

ham

Wow, how exciting is that title?! You're desperate to read on, aren't you.

I wanted to make my own ham. I think all these home preserving techniques are getting lost, and the results you get are so unique and personal compared to vacuum-wrapped plasticky salt logs.

I've started here with pork leg, very inexpensive. I then made an 85% brine solution and added juniper berries, peppercorns, bay leaves and a couple of cloves. But these could be any number of aromatic things. Now I'm leaving the pork submerged in this liquid for a day and a half per pound (that's four and a half days for me). See you on Saturday for the results!

spanish goulash

I was extremely pleased with this. I knew a cold evening was coming up and that we had guests round, so I wanted something big, hearty and packed with warming flavours. I knew I had to look to tomatoey-based stews to heat the cockles. I also really wanted something paprika-y. Here's what I came up with.

I griddled some thickly-sliced chorizo first, to get those attractive black bar-marks, as well as to get an interesting charred flavour on them. Then in a big-ass Creuset pan I fried a red and white onion, and a fair whack of garlic. Then some diced pork chop went in, and when browned some lovely sweet paprika. It never fails to amaze me how it's flavour permeates the whole dish and resonates for such a long time. Then a tin of tomatoes, and my chorizo chums join the party. To this I add a jar of drained peppers and leave to simmer for about two hours. I served it with sour cream and homebaked bread for a true winter warmer.

roast pork belly

Pork belly, how I love thee so. Economical, tasty, and so absorbent for flavour. In this case it's salt and fennel, roasted with onions and celery until juicy and crisp. Served with roast potatoes and broccoli it's meal for a king.

pork chop with fennel slaw and sweet potato fries

From The Crooked Knife - juicy, aniseedy and sweet.