Tonight’s recipe
Five-hour pork shoulder with plum barbecue sauce
INGREDIENTS
For the pork
2 red onions, peeled and wedged
A whole garlic bulb, sliced down the middle
3 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
2.2kg bone-in pork shoulder (if you’re buying from a butcher, ask them to score the skin)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp garlic granules
2 tsp flakey salt
10 plums, halved, their stones removed
For the sauce
100ml ketchup
1 tbsp dark muscovado sugar 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp Dijon mustard
A few dashes of chilli sauce
METHOD
Put greaseproof paper at the bottom of a large roasting tin. Lay the onions, garlic, star anise and cinnamon sticks in the tin and place the pork on top.
In a small bowl, mix the rest of the spices and salt. Rub all over the pork. Cover with foil and leave in the fridge for at least an hour, or overnight if you can. Take it out a good 40 minutes before you put it in the oven so you’re not cooking it from fridge temperature.
Preheat the oven to 220C/gas 7. Remove the foil from the pork and put the tin in the oven. Roast for 40 minutes.
Turn the heat down to 150C/gas 2. Take the pork out of the oven and add the plums to the bottom of the tin. Cover it all with foil and place the tin back in the oven. Cook for four hours, or until the pork is soft and could be pulled off the bone with a spoon.
Remove the pork from the tin and set aside on a large serving dish.
Loosely cover it with foil and leave to sit for at least half an hour. If you want to crisp up the crackling, you could then remove the skin and pop it under a hot grill for a few minutes. Meanwhile, put all the sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Stir and cook until the sugar has dissolved. Add the onions and plums from the roasting tin and some of the cooking juices (but not too much pork fat). Squeeze the garlic cloves from their skins and add them, too, and some black pepper. Simmer for five minutes, mashing the plums with the back of your spoon. Shred the pork from the bone with two forks. Spoon about two thirds of the sauce over the pork and use tongs to mix it all together. Put the rest in a bowl and let people serve themselves extra if they need it.