Hog’s Back, Crispy-skinned, All Day And Night, Pork

This is a super-slow, all day and night, way of achieving crispy-skinned pork cooked, appropriately, in Hog’s Back beer.
It goes very well with spicy aubergine.
In fact, 3½ kg is very generous for eight people, but you really want lots of leftovers. It’s excellent as a lunch the following day with more cold spicy aubergine and aioli.
Recipe for Hog’s Back, Crispy-skinned, All Day And Night, Pork
Serves 8
Ingredients
- 3½ kg/8 lbs pork shoulder on the bone and with the skin still on
- 3 tbsp fennel seeds, dry fried
- 1 head of garlic, all cloves crushed with 3 tbsp smoked salt
- 3 tbsp smoked salt
- 120 ml/½ cup olive oil
- 1 teasp cayenne pepper
- 12 grinds of Indonesian long black pepper
- 180 ml good quality, dark maple syrup
- 1 bottle Hogs Back – Gardeners’ Tipple
- 2 teasp balsamic vinegar
Method
- Preheat the oven to 230°C – use Aga top right.
- Score the skin with a sharp knife a couple of centimeters (half an inch) apart.
- Crush the fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar.
- Add the crushed garlic.
- Slowly whisk in (cappuccino whisk is good for this) the oil and the two peppers – this paste can be made well ahead.
- Divide the paste one third/two thirds.
- Smear a third of the paste over the side of the joint without the skin, put it skin-side down in the roasting. tin and roast for half an hour.
- Add the maple syrup and the vinegar to the rest of the paste.
- Turn the shoulder over using a pair of lifting forks.
- When it’s cool, push the remaining paste into the slits you’ve made into the skin.
- The either turn the oven down to 100°C or use the bottom left, warming oven of the Aga.
- Pour about half the beer into the roasting tin.
- Cook the meat for about 24 hours – if it starts to look dry add more beer.
- About ten minutes or so before serving take the meat out, remove the skin, and leave to rest.
- Put the skin under the grill to crisp up.