Thread: Roast Pork

G'day gents (and gentlettes),

My flatmate in his infinite wisdom, has bought a new shiny barbeque, with one of those rotisserie (sp) jobbies.

I'm rather fond of roast pork, and was wondering if a leg roast can be cooked on the rotisserie? And if so, would I have to do the crackling in the oven, or can it be left on.

Any hints/tips/advice would be appreciated!

Cheers :D

Why go for the Leg Joint? There are better and easier. Rotisserie is good but not vital.
Try these: http://www.weber.com/Recipes/Category/Pork/?cid=5
Have had a Weber for 9 years now and use it about 3 times a week. Cook Christmas Bird etc on it.
Tips: Buy good charcoal briquets, not crap wood carbon that burns for about 20 mins. Marinade the meat. Not too long but 3-4 hours should suffice. Make sure your joint has some fat in it as well as on it. If very lean you can "lard" it or wrap it in Pancetta or streaky bacon.
For pork things like apricots, sage and pistachio nuts go well. Make a sauce with either apples or a spiced vinegar type thing. Spiced Red cabbage goes very well: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/da...age_2528.shtml
This recipe for cabbage works fine but if eating straight away I cook for about 2-3 hours at 150.
Finally.....enjoy

To make crisp cracking,fist pour boiling water all over the joint and then rub it again all over, with oil with a small amount of salt and herbs/garlic mixed together making sure the mix gets well into the scored skin, another good trick is ti stab along the skin scores lines, and push garlic cloves or shelled Pistachio nuts into the joint, the pistachio nuts make the flesh go a little blue/green but the taste is wonderfull,and even better cold with Chutney

I'm starving after reading that. We did a pig roast here a while back. A medium sized porker rubbed all over with local herbs, stomach cavity packed with chopped sugar cane. The whole roasted in a big clay oven on a wooden board. Thats it! I am going out to get summat to eat.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKay

Firstly - for a lovely bit of BBQ action - let's consider the Shoulder of Pork. It is a cheaper cut and with a good BBQ sauce is far tastier.

Things to consider - cooking over raw flames does dehydrate meat a lot quicker so you will either have to pre-roast and finish on the BBQ or baste often on a slow cooking process and low heat in the BBQ.

Crackling can only really be achieved in the oven.

So my recommendation is to roll the meat and tie with metal wire, the centre having received a really good basting of BBQ marinade, stud the outside with garlic and then baste with BBQ Marinade - roast in the oven at 140 degrees (35 mins per 500g) ensuring you baste every 30 mins. Transfer to the BBQ and cook for 30 mins to get the smoky flavour (use hickory chips).

The pork then neeeds to be rested for about 20 mins with foil over the top and then it is not carved but pulled. If you do this right you will get a similar flavour to the Hard Rock Cafe Pig Sandwich of old.

BBQ marinade is made by:

75ml cup vegetable oil

1 large red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

200ml tomato purée

4 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

150ml orange juice

5 tablespoons vinegar

2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons prepared spicy brown mustard

1 tablespoon molasses

1/2 tablespoon paprika

1/2 tablespoon pepper

1/2 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder



Method
To make the sauce

In a saucepan or large skillet heat oil. Add onion and garlic and sauté 5 minutes or until translucent. Add remaining sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer uncovered 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Process in a blender or food processor until smooth. Chill in refrigerator until ready to use or up to 3 weeks.

Serve with delicous corn on the cob, homemade coleslaw, Baked Potatoes and an Amercian salad.

Oh and lots of lager - beer does not tend to work with this. It is typical Southern BBQ cookin' so it only seems to work with light lagers.

Originally Posted by Kakashi

G'day gents (and gentlettes),

My flatmate in his infinite wisdom, has bought a new shiny barbeque, with one of those rotisserie (sp) jobbies.

I'm rather fond of roast pork, and was wondering if a leg roast can be cooked on the rotisserie? And if so, would I have to do the crackling in the oven, or can it be left on.

Any hints/tips/advice would be appreciated!

Cheers :D

Hang on, this has to be a wah. An aussie asking brits for BBQ advice?

Self respect, mate. It just ain't done :D

Try the weber web site. I like their recipes.

Don't knock the Colonials. They understand this stuff, because they get sunshine occasionally.

All my BBQ books are bought in the USA. As a result I know what a skillet is ... and cilantro, and stuff like that.

Bring it on.

Tropper ... will try the boiling water trick next time. I do that with duck, never heard it mentioned in the context of pork. Interesting ....

Points to note about perfect crackling:

1. Using the boild water trick does work, but you should score the meat first, pour the water on and then pat dry quickly, very lightly rub some oil over the skin. Next add good quality sea salt onto the skin. Crackling is made by the fat dehydrating and as a result crisping up.

2. Resist the tempation to pour too much oil on, you are trying to roast it - not fry it.

3. Herbing the crust is always good, but avoid using dried herbs, they become 'bitty' and will catch in the teeth.

4. Crackling needs to be cooked at temperatures higher than 200 degrees for at the very least final 20 mins in order to crisp up nicely.

5. Drain the crackling on kitchen paper in rid yourself of excess oiliness and fat - nothing worse than that horrible film on the roof of your mouth.

Enjoy!!

Yup, knew all of that .... except the boiling water.

Now to save up to afford some pork!!

BTW - agree entirely about shoulder joints. Bernie in Farnborough Market was our first port of call for a good shoulder with some decent fat in it. I wouldn't give you tuppence for a bone-dry, lean, fatless leg joint.

B-S - you don't need to save. You can buy some belly pork for less than £4.

A half decent shoulder will cost you £10 and you will either feed 6-8 or have 2 meals out of it.

I confess to having gone through the phase of finding the best cuts and actually now finding that some of the best cuts of meast are sometimes some of the cheapest when prepared properly.

A good quick recipe for BBQ sauce is equal amounts of instant coffee dissolved in warm water mixed with tomato ketchup - try it you will be amazed!

Originally Posted by flynavy

A good quick recipe for BBQ sauce is equal amounts of instant coffee dissolved in warm water mixed with tomato ketchup - try it you will be amazed!

Another couple of good hints for BBQ sauces are honey and Worcestershire sauce mixed with the coffee and Ketchup, or honey and mustard

Originally Posted by eodmatt

I'm starving after reading that. We did a pig roast here a while back. A medium sized porker rubbed all over with local herbs, stomach cavity packed with chopped sugar cane. The whole roasted in a big clay oven on a wooden board. Thats it! I am going out to get summat to eat.

Burgger - now drooling even more than usual. One of the deep joys of living in Balkania near the Serb bit is you can do what I am now going to for lunch - have a bit of fresh suckling pig, cheap beer and cheaper local pear brandy! :D

I note your comments on the pig roast. Doing a whole pig was an expensive option particularly if it was a barbecue. In the market place in Doboj I can buy a 1.5 metre spit complete with holding tines at either end, an electric (car) battery driven motor and a gearing system to power the whole lot up.

Cost is circa 30 euros. Car battery supplied by the purchaser. They use wood rather than charcoal and Mysteron is correct - slightly chewie skin - but crackling it aint

Wittlich in the Mosel area of Germany is the place to visit as they have a pig roasting festerval there in the autum

Porchetta di Arrichia. Now that is something fantastic.