Cooking your Pork

When we collected our pigs back as pork, we wanted to make sure we did our pigs justice and cooked them so they were delicious and we wouldnt waste any meat.

Here are some of the ways we have enjoyed cooking Little Chinthurst Pork.

Do let us know any favourite recipes which have worked well for you.

Slow Roasted Shoulder

Shoulder works best roasted overnight in a low oven (Aga simmering oven is perfect).

Jamie and Hugh both have great recipes for Pork Shoulder.

Our simpler method is to put the shoulder in a roasting tin and pour in about 300ml of white wine and 300ml of water. Then cook it for 30 minutes in the aga roasting oven (about 230'C?) and then overnight in the simmering oven (about 150'C?). Its usually ready by lunchtime, although sometimes I leave it even longer as I like it quite crispy. Great with crusty bread, couscous and salad.

Sausages

When it comes to cooking sausages, the slower the better. 25 minutes of slow frying is about right. Alternatively, roast the sausages in a hot oven for 30-45 minutes, turning once or twice.

Chops

Little Chinthurst Pork Chops are a thick cut of meat which are delicious fast fried for 3-4 minutes each site. We like ours with a honey and herb mix spread over the meat during cooking.

Suzy's Cherry Coke Ham & Pineapple Stuffing

Cherry Coke Ham
1 ham (about 3kg)
6 cans Cherry Coke
1 onion

Glaze:
Whole Cloves
4 Tablespoons cherry Jam
1 Tsp smoked Paprika
∏ Tsp red wine vinegar

Soak Ham over night in cold water to get rid of some on the salt.
Place ham in a large pot, as snug fitting as possible so you don’t need too much Coke. Pour over the coke and add onion, halved. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 2 hours.

Cont...

To make glaze mix jam, vinegar and paprika in small sauce pan. Stir over heat till melted.
Remove ham form the Coke and place in roasting pan. Cut off outer layer of fat but leave a thin layer of fat. Score the fat in diamonds and stud the diamonds with cloves. Put into hot oven (about 220 C) and baste with glaze. Cook about 30 min until glaze is nice dark brown and ham dries a bit.

Pineapple Stuffing:

2 large tins pineapple rings of chunks in juice (mashed up and including juice)
225 g caster sugar
4 eggs beaten
250g butter
5 slices of bread –cubed

Mix all ingredients together and pour into baking dish. Cook at 180 C for about 1 hour till brown on top and mixture look moist but not liquid.

River Cottage Meat Book

This is a great book, with great recipes and an interesting discussion on farmed meat. Highly recommended. Have a look through our copy when you come to collect your meat.