Perfect Pork Roast
Perfect Pork Roast
The most delicious pork rack you will ever cook. Buy the best NZ pork for the best NZ meal.
Ready in: 9 hours 20 minutes
Serves: 8
Complexity: very-easy
kcal: 732
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Ingredients
2 kg pork rack, trimmed
BRINE:--
4 tbsp salt
500 ml boiling water
3.5 litres cold water
sage leaves, 1 per cut
1 tsp SIDS CRAZY SALT
plain salt
COOK:--
rice bran oil
SIDS SALT & PEPPER
SAUCE:--
1 small bottle cider
1 litre chicken stock
2 sprigs thyme
cornflour if necessary
Directions
Get your butcher to clean the bones and tie it for you. Make sure you take all the trimmings home to help make the sauce.
BRINE: Dissolve salt with boiling water in a deep roasting tray then top with cold water. Add pork and leave in the brine, at room temperature, for 3 hours. Ensure all the pork is brined.
Remove pork from the brine then rinse with cold water and dry with a clean cloth.
Thinly score the rind with a sharp knife then place the pork in the fridge, uncovered, to dry out for 4 hours. This will improve the crackling. Remove pork from the fridge, make about 10 small deep cuts into the flesh of the pork, sprinkle a sage leaf with a little SIDS CRAZY SALT, roll the leaf up tightly and insert it into the cut. Repeat until all the cuts are filled.
COOK: Preheat oven to 230˚C. Use a hair dryer to blow-dry the rind of the pork for 5 minutes to remove any excess moisture.(moisture is the enemy of good crackling) Brush the skin with a little oil then generously season with SIDS SALT & PEPPER.
Place all the pork trimmings in the bottom of a roasting tray, place the pork on a wire rack over the trimmings and cook for 30 minutes in the oven until the crackling is golden. Turn the oven down to 175˚C and cook a further 45-60 minutes. Check by inserting a skewer into the thickest part of the meat, leave for 10 seconds then remove the skewer and place it against your top lip. If the skewer feels hot, the pork is ready.
Once cooked, allow the pork to rest in a warm spot for 15 minutes. While resting, start the sauce.
SAUCE: Remove excess fat from the roasting tray then on a high heat, pour in the cider and bring to the boil, rubbing the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Add about 1 litre of chicken stock, some fresh thyme, boil a few minutes then strain through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan and keep warm. Add any extra juices from the resting pork. Thicken, if necessary, with cornflour.
Remove the string from the pork, ready for carving.