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Cola Roast Pork With Crackling


We love pork cooked any style, it is delicious with any combination of flavours and spices but we especially enjoy it as a treat on a Sunday roasted with crackling and complete with potatoes, veg and gravy.


I used cola as the liquid base as I had some leftover from a recent sleepover, I normally make icy poles with it but as it is winter, no one wants to eat cold things but you can use chicken or vegetable stock if you prefer. The cola made a deliciously sweet/savoury gravy that went well with the pork.



I took the string casing off the pork roll and lay it out flat then seasoned the meat, making sure that the entire area was seasoned. I propped the pork up on some onions quarters and garlic to keep it as straight and flat as possible, this helps to get a great crispy crackling.




Ingredients

2.5 kg boneless skin on shoulder pork
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1.5 tsp Asian ginger spice rub
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic bulbs, halved horizontally
2 onions, quartered
600 ml cola

For the gravy

250 ml chicken stock
1-2 tbsp flour

Method

1.  Remove any string casing from the roll of pork. Lie it flat on a tray or plate. Pat skin dry with kitchen paper. Leave uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours, overnight if possible..

2.  Preheat oven to 220°C. Sprinkle pork flesh with salt, onion salt, cumin, ginger spice and olive oil. Rub all over making sure to coat every fold or crevice in the flesh.

3.  Turn pork skin side up, give another quick pat dry, then drizzle some olive oil all over the skin. Sprinkle evenly with a pinch of salt and a small amount of pepper.

4.  Line a roasting pan with tin foil. Arrange halved garlic and onions in the roasting pan. Place pork, skin side up on top of them. Arrange them under the pork to make sure the pork remains as flat and even as possible, this helps with to get crispy crackling. 

5.  Pour cola into the pan around the pork, taking care not to wet the skin. Place into oven.

6.  Immediately reduce oven temperature to 140°C (fan forced). Roast for 2 1/2 hours. Checking after 1 hour 15 mins to make sure the pork is still flat and the pan hasn't dried out, add some water if necessary. 

7.  After roasting time, remove from oven. Turn oven up to 240°C. Return pork to oven for 30 minutes, rotating every 10 minutes until skin is crispy and bubbly.

8.  Remove pork from oven and transfer to a cutting board, place some foil loosely over pork and rest for 20 minutes.

To make the gravy:

1.  Pour the entire contents of the roasting pan in a strainer over a pan. Press down on the onions and garlic to release the juices, the discard the onions and garlic. Skim off as much of the fat as possible from the juices. Add flour to juices and whisk briskly to remove any lumps.

2.  Over a medium heat, add chicken stock while whisking. Simmer until thickened. Season to taste.




This recipe for pork crackling here is particularly good, I have tried it twice now and it turns out great.

Recipe slightly adapted from here

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