Recipes

From British Regional Cooking by Mark Hix. A pork recipe without all the usual heavy, starchy flavours, kept fresh by the use of scrumpy.

Serving 4

    1 piece of pork loin, boned, weighing about 1.5-2kg (boned weight)
    Salt and freshly ground black pepper
    1 onion, freshly chopped
    1 carrot, freshly chopped
    1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
    a few sprigs of thyme
    300ml scrumpy or dry cider

Method

Preheat the oven to 220°C/ gas 7.

Remove the pork rind with a sharp knife and cut it into strips to cook separately. Score the fat in a criss-cross with the knife, season and cook the pork in a roasting tray fro 30minutes, turning halfway.

Lower the oven to 160°C/ gas 3, add the vegetables and thyme and return to the oven. Spoon some cider over the meat every so often until it’s all used, and drain away any excess fat into a container during cooking.

Cook fat side up for the last 45 minutes. Cut the pork into thick slices and serve with mash.