Thai Spiced Pulled Pork

 

Ok, so this isn't really baking, but it's too tasty not to share with you! This pulled pork recipe works EVERY time. It's a real crowd-pleaser and is relatively cheap - a £4/5 piece of pork shoulder would easily feed six people, and you'd still probably have left overs (unless your friends are greedy like mine!). It takes a little preparation, and a long time to cook, so it's definitely not a last minute meal but it's totally worth it.

Ingredients:
1.5-2kg boneless pork shoulder, untied
100g salt
100g sugar

For the marinade:
2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp maple syrup
3 tbsp water
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped

Place your pork shoulder in a large bowl, and rub the salt and sugar all over it. Get into all the folds, and rub it into the skin too if your meat comes with the skin on. Cover and leave in the fridge over night. This should help draw some of the moisture out of the meat.

After your pork has rested overnight, remove it from the bowl, letting any excess water drip off and place it on a plate. Use some kitchen kitchen towel to wipe off any excess salt and sugar.

In a clean bowl, combine all the ingredients for the marinade and mix well. Place the dried pork in the bowl and rub the marinade all over. Cover and leave in the fridge for an hour.

Pre-heat your oven to 220c.

Once the pork has sat in the marinade for an hour, take it out of the bowl and place it in a roasting tray. Do not throw the left over marinade away - put it to one side for later

Roast the pork for 45 minutes to an hour at this high heat to help crisp up the crackling skin, then reduce the temperature to 120c, so very low, and continue to roast for five hours at this low heat. After the five hours, pour the remaining marinade over the joint and roast for a further hour. That's 7 hours roasting in total.

Rest the cooked meat for about 20 minutes then cut off the crispy layer of crackling and shred the meat with two forks - it's so tender and soft, it falls apart so easily. And although the outside may look a little dark, underneath it's perfectly roasted. Plus most of my family fight for the crispier bits anyway!

We usually serve ours in crusty rolls, with coleslaw and onion rings, but it's great piled on top of chips, loaded with cheese and put under the grill for a few minutes too! How do you eat yours?