Fall apart, flavoursome fare

My most recent pork based dinner of tender pork medallions in a sticky apple, prune and fennel sauce was such a hit with the children, that I decided  to make the most of this lean white meat once more for this evening’s dinner. 

From the butcher’s appealing display I selected a snugly bound, well bred 1.8 kilogram piece of pork loin with a decent insulating layer of fat and skin – perfect for crunchy crackling. An easy marinade made with readily available ingredients of fennel, clove, garlic and orange was rubbed thoroughly into the skin before the entire piece was slowly roasted for several hours to achieve that divine melt in the mouth texture boosted by intense aromatic flavours. 

Mum made her famous creamed potatoes and a jumbo iceberg and radicchio salad; the slight bitterness of the deep burgundy radicchio leaves contrasted beautifully with the richness of the pork and creamy potato side dish. 

Pooled at the bottom of the baking dish was flavoursome stock. Once blended with plain flour and water and whisked over a low heat, this morphed into the most delicious and velvety smooth gravy perfect for pouring over the tender pork. 

Slowly Roasted Pork with Orange, Fennel, Clove and Garlic Flavours to serve 7 people with enthusiastic appetites. 

Ingredients
1.8 kg piece of pork loin with the skin on – ask your butcher to tie up the pork neatly with cooking string. 
1 tablespoon olive oil
30 g unsalted butter
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
4 garlic cloves crushed
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 cup of 100% orange juice

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees on a conventional setting. 

Melt the butter with the olive oil in your roasting dish over a medium heat and add the fennel seeds, cloves, garlic and sea salt. Stir to combine, using the heat to release the flavours. 

Remove from the heat and add the pork, rolling it over until it is covered with this aromatic marinade. Using clean hands, rub the mixture well into the pork skin. 

Pour in the orange juice, cover with a double layer of aluminium foil and place in the oven for 3 hours. There is no need to check on your pork. Walk away and tend to that “to do” list. 

After 3 hours, remove the pork from the oven, take off the aluminium foil and ramp up the heat to 225 degrees. Once the oven is super hot, put the pork into a clean baking dish.The pork crackling will not crisp up if it is left sitting in the stock as this creates too much moist steam. Put the pork back into the oven for about 20 – 30 minutes or until the skin is a deep golden brown and crunchy. 

To serve, carve your pork into thick slices and drizzle over some gravy and serve with your choice of side dishes. Watch it disappear in record time reminding the children NOT to lick their plates.