Last week my mother was out tending to errands and exploring Sydney’s food supply stores. Mum really enjoys searching and sampling her way through Sydney foodie places because of the incredible variety of fresh produce and artisan products available. She came home with bags of delicious goodies, including a two kilogram piece of plump, pink pork neck which she had vacuum sealed. This is a great way of prolonging the lifespan of meat and poultry without having to put it into the freezer for later use. 

When we decided to turn this into dinner we both looked at the pork and discussed the best way to prepare it. Although both of us are accomplished home cooks – my mother’s food is particularly tasty and the stomach magically makes more room for second servings of her meals – both of us are a little unsure when it comes to cooking with pork. I have certainly stepped out of my comfort zone in regards to this type of meat having experimented with a variety of cuts, including pork fillet, rolled pork loin, and pork mince. Neither of us have attempted pork neck. So after scouring several notable recipe books for flavouring and cooking tips, from Stephanie Alexander’s The Cook’s Companion, to Nigella Lawson’s Feast, to Karen Martini’s Cooking at Home, we came up with the recipe for Sweetly Succulent Roasted Pork Neck. 

Pork neck has a more robust flavour than pork fillet or pork loin. I find it lends itself well to cool evenings or winter family feasts, when a richer style of meal is needed to warm us up from the inside. 

Cabbage seemed to be a suggestion in all the books as an ideal side dish, so mum made up a finely sliced red cabbage with a dash of olive oil, vinno cotto and sprinkling of sea salt. A tray of the tiniest roasted baby potatoes and steamed broccoli with lemon juice finished off the meal. This roast is so, so moist and easy for even the littlest one in our family to eat. 

As I served up generous slices of the pork, I spooned over the juices from the bottom of the baking pan. This self saucing stock was simply too delicious to waste as it was scented and thickened with slices of baked apple, fennel seeds and chunks of caramelised pumpkin. Yum!

Sweetly Succulent Roasted Pork Neck to serve 8 people

Ingredients
2 kg pork neck
Extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
2 large apples peeled and thickly sliced
1/2 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup verjuice
500 g pumpkin cut into large 4cm – 5cm cubes. 

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees fan bake mode. 

Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in an oven proof baking pan (I used my Le Creuset) and saute over a medium heat, the apples, garlic, fennel seeds for about 5 minutes. You want to release the flavours and give the apples an initial golden colour. 

Add the pork neck sprinkling each side with sea salt and piling the apples and fennels over the surface to distribute the flavours. I have included a photo below to show what the pork looks like during this process. Brown all over. 


Add the verjuice and put the pan into the oven, uncovered. Bake for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and pile the pumpkin around the pork, turning it over to coat in the pan juices. Return to the oven for another 20 minutes. 

Once the time is up, remove the pan from the oven and cover with either the lid of your baking tray or aluminium foil and rest for another 20 minutes. This will allow the pork to continue to cook and for the meat to relax. 

Carve up, serve and devour!