There are many Italian recipes in which the meat is cooked slowly over low heat and allowed to fall apart. Pork is a particular favourite, often with sausages, onions, tomatoes, and porcini mushrooms. However, today’s recipe shouts winter walks and long Sunday lunches. The bone-in joint is slow-roasted in red wine vinegar with warming winter spices such as juniper, five-spice berries, star anise, cloves, and bay leaf.
The recipe is inspired by Marcella Hazan from her bible of Italian cookery, The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking and her recipe for slow-roast pork. However, over the years, we’ve tinkered with the dish and added spices. The pork loin has been swapped for a shoulder joint (bone-in) with skin. Now you have the best of both worlds – slow-cooked pork and crackling!
Score the meat and rub in Sel de Guérande/Spice Mix.
A two-kilo leg of pork is plenty for eight people. Start by scoring the fat. Rub in a salt mixture with the roughly crushed spices, ensuring it is worked into all the scored areas. I like to use the Gros sel de Guérande, or grey salt. It’s slightly wet and flaky, which makes it perfect for this job. When scoring the fat, only cut into the skin, as you don’t want to damage the fat layer. You will cut the skin off later (as crackling), and you want it to come off in one piece!
Start the Crackling
Once salted, the meat goes into the oven at high heat for 15 minutes, or until the skin crackles. You then remove the meat from the oven and gently cut away the skin (crackling), leaving as much fat as possible. Set the strip of crackling aside. Return the pork to a Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid, fat side down. Pour over 1.5 cups of good-quality red wine vinegar. Add about 4 fresh bay leaves, the spice mix and any juices from the baking tray.
Slow Roast the Pork
Leave the meat to roast at 160 °C. Baste the meat every 45 minutes, adding a dash more vinegar and water if it becomes dry. After about 2.5 hours, tuck in 2 large onions (roughly chopped into quarters) under the meat, then add 1/2 cup of stock. Leave for another forty-five minutes to an hour, or longer – until the meat falls off the bone and the onions are tender and soft. Remember to baste the meat regularly. If you feel it is cooking too quickly, turn the oven down. If your lid does not fit well, add a layer of foil to improve the seal. This will stop it from drying out.
Serving
When ready, remove the meat from the Dutch oven and arrange it on a warmed serving plate. Cover and set aside. Turn the oven onto a high grill and finish cooking the crackling. Meanwhile, bring the juices in the Dutch oven to a boil, adding the remaining stock. You can strain the sauce, or push the softened onion/sauce through a strainer to thicken and flavour it. Pour the sauce over the meat.
Pull the meat apart at the table, or let your guests dig in. Serve with polenta, celeriac & carrot swirl, a large green salad, or green vegetables, and possibly a little homemade apple sauce.
Use leftover pulled pork to make delicious sandwiches with sauerkraut or cabbage salad.
Italian Style Slow Roast Pork
Equipment
- 1 large Dutch oven (casserole with a lid) and a baking tray
Ingredients
- 2 kilo pork leg or shoulder joint with skin, and ideally on the bone
- 1.5 tbsp Gros sel de Guérande, grey salt or good quality flaky salt plus extra for the crackling If you are not using this salt, you will need to reduce the amount, as a tablespoon of the larger-grained salt is much less concentrated than a tablespoon of a finer-grained salt.
- freshly ground black pepper
- 4-5 juniper berries or ¼ tsp spice powder
- 5 all spice berries or 1 tsp ground spice powder
- 2 star anise petals or scant 1 tsp ground spice powder
- 2 cloves or ½ tsp ground ground spice powder
- 1½ – 2 cups red wine vinegar
- approx ½ cup water
- 4 bay leaves
- approx 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 large onions cut into quarters
- olive oil
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 200 °C
- Grind all the spices (except the bay leaves) with the salt in a pestle and mortar. Mix the salt directly with ground spices if you don't have a pestle and mortar. Add a generous grinding of black pepper.
- Thoroughly dry the pork meat – especially the skin. Score diagonally in both directions. When scoring the fat, only cut into the skin, as you don't want to damage the fat layer. You will cut the skin off later (as crackling), and you want it to come off in one piece but leave the fat!
- Massage a scant tsp of olive oil into the skin, then rub a teaspoon of the spiced salt mix into the skin, working it into all the cuts. Finish by sprinkling a generous pinch of the flaked salt.
- Place the meat on a baking tray and cook on the middle shelf in the oven for 15-20 minutes (until the skin starts to crisp). Remove the meat from the oven and gently cut away the skin, leaving as much fat as possible. Reserve any juices. Set aside the skin (crackling) on the baking tray and turn the oven down to 160 °C
- Sprinkle the remaining spiced salt over the meat. Put the Dutch oven on the hob over medium heat, add a drizzle of olive oil, and place the joint fat side down. Cook for a 2-minutes to seal the fat. Remove from the heat. Pour over 1.5 cups of good-quality red wine vinegar and ½ a cup of water. Add 4 bay leaves and any juices from the baking tray. Cover tightly with the lid and place back in the oven at 160 °C
- Baste the meat every 45 minutes, adding a dash more vinegar and water if it becomes dry. After two and a half hours, tuck in two large onions (roughly chopped into quarters) under the meat, then add half a cup of stock. Leave for another forty-five minutes to an hour, until the meat falls off the bone and the onions are tender and soft. Remember to regularly baste the meat and ensure the lid is tightly closed to prevent it from drying out. If your cover does not fit well, add a layer of foil to improve the seal. Total cooking time is about three to three and a half hours – the meat simply needs to fall off the bone but remain tender and moist. So check it and adjust accordingly – especially if you have changed the size of the joint.
- When ready, remove the meat from the Dutch oven and arrange it on a warmed serving plate. Cover with foil and set aside. Turn the oven onto a high grill and finish cooking the crackling. Meanwhile, bring the juices in the Dutch oven to a boil, adding the remaining stock. You can strain the sauce, or push the softened onion/sauce through a strainer to thicken and flavour it. Pour the sauce over the meat or serve it separately in a jug. Pull the meat apart and break up the crackling at the table, or let your guests simply dig in. Serve with polenta, celeriac & carrot swirl, a large green salad, or green vegetables, and possibly a little homemade apple sauce.
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