We love the recipes of Diane Henry, her recipes are packed full of flavour.
This recipe does not fail to deliver on flavour. The hoisin marinade really hits the spot, and the long slow cooking makes the pork unctuous and meltingly soft.
INGREDIENTS
1.9kg shoulder of pork, boned
125ml soy sauce
125ml runny honey
125ml hoisin sauce
125ml dry sherry
2 teaspoons five-spice powder
3 cm piece ginger, peeled and grated to a purée
for the salad
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
3 teaspoons caster sugar
2 cm piece of root ginger, peeled and grated
1 large garlic clove, very finely chopped
1 cold cucumber, peeled in stripes and cut in half along its length
300 gr radishes (a mixture of colours if possible), cut into quarters or eighths
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds (or a mixture of white and black sesame seeds)
METHOD
Remove the skin from the pork – or ask your butcher to do it – and discard. Leave the fat on. Mix together all the other ingredients to make a marinade and put this in a large plastic bag with the pork. Marinate in the fridge for anything from 24–48 hours.
Bring the pork to room temperature for an hour before you are going to cook it. Heat the oven to 1120°C
Place the pork in a roasting tin in which it will fit snugly (if there is a lot of room around it, the juices and the marinade will just run off and burn) and pour the marinade into a bowl.
Cook the pork for 4½-5 hours, or until the meat is soft and melting. Ladle some of the marinade over the pork and return to the oven. Keep adding more of the marinade and basting the pork every 10 minutes for the next hour, turning it over every time you do this. The pork should end up dark and glossy. If the joint starts to get too dark on the outside, cover it with foil.
Make the dressing by mixing the vinegar, sugar, ginger and garlic together with a pinch of salt.
Scoop out the seeds from the cucumber and cut it into 4 cm-thick pieces. Bash these with a rolling pin.
Put the cucumber in a bowl with the dressing and chill for 20 minutes.
Add the radishes and sesame oil, and toss the salad. Scatter the sesame seeds on top
Serve with the salad and frisee and boiled rice or soft white rolls.
Original recipe “From the oven to the table” by Diana Henry
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