Overview
Succulent, moist, flavourful melt-in-your-mouth pork is awesome, and sooooo easy if you have a steam oven! If not, go and get one!!
We have never managed to carve these – they just fall apart. Use any big piece of pork you like, but we’re partial to the scotch fillet / Boston butt / neck. Whatever you like to call it, it’s the same thing! Shoulder and leg work well too, but we always go back to the butt 🙂
Use whatever flavourings you like – sweet or spicy BBQ, Mexican spices, something more traditional – it’ll all come out beautifully.
Time
Cook time 3-3½ hours (steam oven) or 6-8 hours (boring oven)
Ingredients
Pork – about 1.8-2.2kg piece (we like the scotch/butt/neck!)
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 apple, roughly chopped
2 bay leaves
1 head of garlic (we use about 5 single-clove garlics, sliced open in half, skins left on because I’m lazy)
2 celery stalks if you have them, roughly chopped
Any pork rub (I’ll upload one of my recipes soon) or seasoning
Liquid for braising – white wine and pork or chicken stock is perfect
Equipment
Steam oven
(If you don’t have a steam oven, do everything the same but wrap in aluminium foil without the liquid. It will take 6-8 hours)
Method
Preheat oven to 150° C, steam 50%, rear heat
1 – Place roughly cut vegetables and fruit in a deep roasting dish.
2 – Rub the pork all over, pressing the rub into the flesh and massaging until it changes texture. Place pork on vegetables.
3 – Add a bay leaf to each side. Pour in a cup of white wine and enough stock to bring the liquid level up to about â…“ of the height of the pork.
4 – Braise pork for 2 hours. Carefully turn over and continue to cook until the internal probe reaches 95° C
5 – Remove pork from oven and the liquid; rest for 5 minutes.
6 – Try to slice it neatly and laugh at how pointless the activity it. Give up and just have pulled pork instead. This is great in tortillas as tacos, as a roast or in nommy nommy toastie sandwiches.