Maple and rosemary slow-roast pork

DON’T, whatever you do, freak out over the lengthy cooking time here. That long, slow roasting results in fall-part juicy meat that will knock your socks off. While it’s in the oven you don’t need to do much to it, except give it the occasional lick over with some of the maple-mustard mixture. A shoulder roast works so well here because you need some fat to stop things turning dry and anything cooked on the bone just tastes fabulous.

Credit: China Squirrel

• serves

  6-8

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  7 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 x 2.75 kg pork shoulder roast, skin scored
• 100 g (¾ cup) sea salt flakes
• 250 g brown sugar
• 100 ml maple syrup
• 125 g (½ cup) dijon mustard
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 sprigs of rosemary

Marinating time 8 hours, or overnight

Instructions

Combine the sea salt and 100 g of the brown sugar in a large bowl. Add the pork to the bowl then rub it all over with the sugar mixture. Place pork skin side up then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 180˚C and wipe as much of the sugar mixture off the pork as you can, using kitchen paper. 

Combine the remaining sugar with the maple syrup, mustard and garlic then rub about a quarter of the mixture all over the pork. Place in a baking dish, skin side up, then scatter over the rosemary. Roast for 1 hour to brown, then reduce the heat to 150˚C. Cover the pork loosely with foil then cook for 6 hours, or until very tender, brushing occasionally with the remaining maple mixture.

Rest for 30 minutes then remove the skin and cut into large pieces. Use 2 forks to shred the pork meat.

Serve the pork in large chunks with pieces of the skin and drizzle with pan juices.

Photography, styling and food preparation by china squirrel.

This recipe is part of our 10 ways with maple syrup column. View previous 10 ways with… columns and recipes.

When she doesn’t have her head in the pantry cupboard, Leanne Kitchen finds time to photograph food and write cookbooks. You can view her work on her website.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.