Slow-roasted Pork Shoulder with Crackling and Fresh Spiced Apple Sauce

Preheat the oven to 230°C/210°C fan/Gas Mark 8.

Rub the salt well into the skin and underside of the joint, lay the sage leaves in the Le Creuset Bakeware Roaster and place the meat on top. Cook in the very hot oven for 30 minutes.

Reduce the heat to very low, 150°C/130°C fan/Gas Mark 2. Remove from the oven and cover the tin with thick aluminium foil, then return to the oven and cook for 4½ - 5 hours until the meat is very tender.

Transfer the pork to a warmed serving dish to rest. Pour the cooking juices into a container, discard the fat and reserve the juices. To crisp the crackling, remove the skin from the joint and place it back into the empty roasting tin. Increase the oven temperature back to 230°C/210°C fan/Gas Mark 8 and cook for 30 minutes.

To make the sauce. Peel, core and dice the apples, then peel and chop the ginger. Place both in a saucepan with the water, balsamic vinegar, sugar, lemon zest and chilli. Put on the lid, stirring occasionally, and cook together until the apples have softened and broken down.

Spoon the sauce into a serving bowl.

Serve the meat thickly sliced with the crackling and apple sauce as a traditional roast with gravy made from the juices or shred the meat and serve in soft rolls with a drizzle of the juices, the apple sauce and the crackling on the side.

Cook's Notes

All good butchers will cut the joint to size, score the fat and tie it for you it for you.

Choose outdoor-reared pork as it will have the best flavour.