Crackling Pork Shoulder Roast

This type of dish is not part of the Italian tradition—these long roasts of big chunks of meat, be they chickens cooked whole or legs and shoulders of various animals (with some exceptions, of course). It is a staple in English-speaking countries though, and I must say, I am a sucker for a good roast. It then makes sense that I borrow heavily from Gordon Ramsey’s video on how to make pork belly roast. Use this video to better understand my recipe.

The shoulder, in particular, is a delicious cut that is also easy on the pocket. It is meaty (unlike the belly) but also rich in fat and connective tissue, which brings a lot of flavor to the table. I used a deboned and vacuum-sealed pork roast. A high-end (free-range, etc.) piece but from a supermarket. It is usually recommended to buy it from the butcher in order to get a nice crackling skin, as the butcher’s meat is bled and dried much better. Notwithstanding the supermarket meat, I got excellent results. Let me explain how below.

Ingredients:

Pork shoulder – mine was deboned and tied into a roll
A fennel bulb
Apples
White potatoes
Red wine (of good quality)
A pinch of brown sugar
Fennel seeds
One juniper berry
A couple of cloves
Sage (fresh)
Rosemary (fresh)
A bay leaf (dried or fresh)
Salt & pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Recipe:

Open and untie the pork. Wash it, dry it well, oil it, and season the side without skin with salt, pepper, fennel, rosemary, and sage. Only put salt on the skin side. Salt should be generous as this is a big cut. Let it rest for about 20 minutes if possible.
Now sear the pork skin in hot oil (EVO or a seed oil if you are afraid of burning the oil). This will dry out the skin nicely before hitting the oven and it is an important step if, like me, you are using packaged meat. You can do steps (2) and (3) into a large pan and then move everything into a tray or work directly with the tray.
Then remove the pork and add to the tray/pan apples, potatoes, and the fennel bulb, cut into big chunks. The flame should remain high so that they brown before going in the oven.
Now put the fruit and vegetables in a tray and place the pork shoulder rolled out flat with the skin facing up.
Pour at least two generous glasses of red wine into the tray (avoid wetting the pork skin in the process). Add water until the liquids reach just below the pork skin. We are not using stock here so a generous amount of wine is important. Add the bay leaf.
Put the tray on the stove and bring it to a boil. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (Celsius) in the meantime. Set it to “static” (not “fan”).
Once boiling, place the tray in the oven for 3-4 hours. If you don’t have as much time, bake it for 2.5 hours at 160 and finish it 15 minutes on grill mode. Keep an eye on it though and adjust the timing based on how ready/burning it looks. Don’t ever take the suggested cooking time in recipes too seriously.
Once ready, remove the pork and the fruit and vegetables. Leave the liquids in the tray and place the tray on the stove on a high flame until they have thickened, turning into gravy. You can add a tablespoon of flour to the liquids to help the thickening.
You are ready to serve! Cut the crackling pork with a bread knife and plate it with the fennel, apples, and potatoes, pouring the gravy on top.

Enjoy this with a nice glass of full-bodied red and quality company.

PS I would recommend following this dish with a leafy salad, seasoned with (EVO, salt and) plenty of lemon juice to clear the palate.

Slow-cooked Pork Ragù Pappardelle

Ingredients (one-course meal for 4 people)

1 kg of pork neck
5 carrots
1 onion
celery stick
3 juniper berries
1 bay leaf
extra virgin olive oil
1/2 litre of chicken stock (the simplest, most natural one you can find at the shops)
a rosemary branch
black pepper
salt
500g pappardelle

Preparation

Seal the pork neck on high heat in a big pan greased with evo
Deglaze with a glass of white wine
Once the alcohol smell is gone, take the pork neck out, cut it into big cubes (say 2x2x2 cm) and then put everything in a pot, together with carrots and celery in chopped in big chunks and the whole onion with 3 cloves “nails” pinned into it
Add the stock and enough water to cover everything
Add juniper berries, 5 peppercorns, the bay leaf
Let it stew on boil gently for 3 hours—heat should be low enough to allow for gentle boiling
Once done, take the carrots out and smashed them
Put the pasta in the empty big pan you used before (big pot if you don’t have one) together with the meat and smashed carrots pouring 2/3 of the stew juices in
1. add the rosemary
2. salt now everything, gradually adjusting as it cooks, according to taste
3. keep gently mixing, so that all the pasta cooks in the juices
4. you will notice that the pork meat will break down nicely during this process
5. add the remaining juices in a couple of rounds—the goal is to have the pasta wet enough to cook it while also getting a thick sauce (too much liquid would make it soupy)
Once the pasta is al dente (it should take between 5 and 8 minutes), add a bit of grated Parmigiano Reggiano (or Grana Padano) on top and mix. Add more on top after plating for looks

This is my Lasagna – and I love it.

Hey you, family member, let me explain how I make my lasagna to you, so you we can share the joy of making and devouring it. The recipe is not particularly mine — it’s a rather traditional version — but it is such in that I am sure it differs from other recipes you will find online. Notice that the prep pictures refer to a huge lasagna I made last year (unless specified). Let’s get to it.

Ingredients. I like to make more ragù (the Bolognese sauce) and besciamel (the white cream) than necessary, so that I can freeze some of the leftovers or repurpose them for another recipe. Hence, I make a lot of both. The below list will give you enough to make 6 BIG portions of lasagna.

Ragù:
- a carrot, a celery stick (the whole branch), an onion;
- half a glass of white wine (better if dry). You can use red wine too;
- 1kg of fatty beef mince (not the lean one, which will result dry);
- 500g pork and veal mince;
- a bacon strip;
- 1.4 l tomato passata (e.g. x2 Mutti 700g);
- a bay leaf;
- salt & pepper;
Besciamel:
- 200g flour;
- 160 butter;
- 2 l milk;
- a pinch of nutmeg;
- salt & pepper;
Pasta sheets (I always use Barilla’s)
About 125g of grated parmesan.

The ragù. This is 90% of the work. Let’s make another list, so that it is easier to follow:

Pour a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil into a big pot. Dice the onion, the carrot, the bacon and the celery stick and let them light fry in the pot, while being careful not to burn them.
When they start browning, put the minced meat in, which you have already mixed all together (beef, veal and pork) by hand.
Put the flame on high allowing the meat to brown. Mix it while it cooks to brown in uniformly.
After about 10 minutes, the mince should have browned enough, pour the wine, keeping the flame on high, thus allowing the alcohol will evaporate quickly.
Add salt and pepper to your own taste.
Once you cannot smell the wine’s alcohol, add the tomato passata and turn the flame to minimum.
At this point, if you have some meat or even chicken stock, add it. I usually don’t have it nor I want to buy it ready-made, so I substitute it with a dollop of milk (from the 2 litres listed above). The milk adds fats and texture, just like the stock, and it is a variation present in many traditional recipes. Some will see it a heretic move. Ignore them.
Together with the passata, add the bay leaf and let the whole mix cook for hours. The longer, the creamier. I left mine for an entire afternoon.
When it’s nice and thick, and you have decided to turn the heat off, add salt and pepper again.

The besciamel. This is a tricky stage, as making besciamel is conceptually easy but requires care. You must stay on it and continuously mix it until it is ready. Failure to do so will result in a burnt and lumpy cream.

Put the butter in a pot and let it melt gently. Careful not to burn it.
Add the flour. Sifting it will minimise the formation of grumes.
Mix and cook for about 5 minutes on a gentle flame.
Add the milk in about three steps, while increasing the heat to medium-low. The stronger the heat, the faster the thickening, but the more intensely you will have to whisk.
Keep whisking and dissolving the grumes until besciamel has lightly thickened. I say lightly thickened as it will keep thickening after you turn it off and you need to take that into account.
When it is ready, add a touch of grated nutmeg, adjusting based on you preferences.

Prep of lasagna using quantities listed in this post #1

Build & Cook. Now pre-heat the oven at 200 C (fan oven). Pour a first layer of besciamel on your roasting pan (something similar to this kind of product). Then, cover it with (raw) lasagna sheets. Now pour a layer of besciamel, then a layer of ragù. Now grate a little bit of parmesan on top. Repeat the sheet-besciamel-ragù-parmesan process until the pan is full. The last layer should be made only of ragù and lots of parmesan (no besciamel). Cook it for about 30 minutes at 180 C. More importantly, simply take it out when the top looks golden, crispy and — why not — a bit burnt.

Prep of lasagna using quantities listed in this post #2

Let it cool down for a few minutes and enjoy it with your loved ones!

Ciao

PS you can find some very helpful step-by-step pics here. Use them to better visualise the steps.