Pork
Outdoor reared British pork tastes better and has higher welfare standards.
Don’t worry about it being fatty, as part of a balanced diet some animal fat is
OK.
Pork chops
As with lamb, they just need to be seasoned and grilled, fried or baked. Sage goes with pork as
rosemary does with lamb, a sprinkle of smoked sweet paprika is nice too, but don’t overdo it. Serve
with the usual peas, beans, sweetcorn and chips or pasta. Beef and lamb can be served slightly
underdone in the middle (rare) but pork should be thoroughly cooked all the way through; if in
doubt, test with a sharp knife to see if any juices run pink.
Roast pork with crackling
Obtain a suitable rolled joint with scored skin from the butcher, salt and pepper and roast in a
medium oven for 2 hours. At this stage, remove the crackling with the filleting knife, dust with salt
and replace in another dish. Cook this at the top of the oven; replace the joint in the middle of the
oven. If the joint is done but the crackling is not crisp, remove it from the oven and turn it up full to
crisp up the crackling. Serve with roast or boiled potatoes, carrots and peas and Bramley apple
sauce if you like it. A pork joint can be rolled around some bread or potato based sage and onion
stuffing, alternatively stuffing (or forcemeat) can be rolled into balls and cooked in the roasting tin
alongside the joint. Stuffing balls cook faster than the joint, watch the timing and don’t burn it.
Braised pork with apple and spice
Pork chops or steaks
Apples, onions, cider
Garlic, salt and pepper
Fresh sage leaves, spices
Allow roughly 200g meat, 1 apple and a medium onion per person. Any pork can be used, bone-in
chops are ideal. Put all the ingredients together in a casserole with cored and sliced apple.
Bramley will cook down to a sauce while aromatic desert apples like Cox or Orleans Reinette stay
in recognisable slices which I think is much better (see ‘Somerset sausage’ recipe.
Spice is up to you, try cloves, allspice berries and cinnamon, don’t overdo it-too little is better than
too much, try and see what you prefer. Pour over cider to cover, about 500mls should do, and
cook in a medium oven for 2 hours. Serve with boiled potatoes or pollenta, and carrots and/or
peas, French beans, etc.
Pork (or bacon) and Beans
There are many different ways with this classic peasant dish. Basically, soak 250g of dried haricot
beans overnight and then simmer with an onion, carrot, bouquet garni and a lump of bacon or
pork for 2 hours. I do not specify the size of the lump of pork, you decide-the more beans or peas
to pork, the ‘healthier’, and of course cheaper. Don’t add salt if it’s bacon, bacon is pork preserved
by salting. Let it cool, remove the joint, cut off the fat and skin, shred the meat, return and re-warm
with a can of tomatoes and seasoning. Serve on its own or with bread or cabbage. Variation split
peas or lentils will give a stodgy but filling and economical winter dish that can be reheated for
several meals.
Sausages
Lady Theresa Waugh offering her recipe for Cassoulet wrote ‘If you cannot find an honest
sausage, you cannot make do with the beige rubbish which generally calls itself a
sausage in England’. No cook ever wrote a truer word. Pay a bit more for decent sausages: the
cheaper the sausage, the more breadcrumbs, emulsified gristle and other dog food it will contain.
If I had 60p per person to buy ingredients for a sausage based meal, I’d rather serve 1 good
sausage and some boiled red lentils than 3 ‘catering quality’ sausages. Try the farmer’s markets, a
good local butcher, or Sainsbury’s ‘Taste the Difference’ range. The Toulouse sausages in this
range are particularly good and not too expensive. When you think about it, why should and how
can sausages worth eating be dirt cheap?
Having paid a bit more for decent sausages there is nothing wrong with plain grilling or frying them.
A tip I learned is NOT to prick them at the start of cooking, it lets the steam out and they don't cook
through so well. Prick them to let the fat run out once they're nearly cooked. Keep an eye on the
sausages and turn as required; if you are multi tasking, bake on a tray in a medium oven for 45
minutes- this is slower but requires less attention.
Sausage Casserole
8 sausages (to serve 4)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion
2/3 cloves crushed garlic
3/4 rashers bacon, chopped
4 (or more) mushrooms, chopped
500mls red wine
500mls chicken stock
1 bouquet garni
2 dessert spoons redcurrant jelly
Put the oil, onion, garlic and bacon in a pan and fry. When the onion is soft add the sausages
('interesting' varieties make a more tasty casserole!) and fry until slightly browned all round. Then
add the wine, chicken stock, bouquet garni and redcurrant jelly. Cook at 190C for an hour. Half
way through cooking add the sliced mushrooms. The flavour is enhanced if you cook it for longer
at a lower temperature. It is a good warming meal when served with jacket or new potatoes and
green vegetables. (thanks to David Burgess, Botley director of music for this recipe)
Somerset Sausages
This recipe was inspired by a meal enjoyed at Simonsbath by the river Barle in Exmoor, when we
were younger.
6 thick pork sausages (to serve 2)
2 apples (not Bramley, Cox or similar are best)
2 medium onions (plus optional garlic)
Cup of cider
Fresh sage, 4 or 5 leaves
Start off the sausages in a frying pan with a little sunflower oil, add the coarsely sliced onions after
10 minutes, and fry alongside with the sausages. After 5 minutes, add cored and segmented
apples (don’t peel them). The segments should retain their shape, which is why Bramley doesn’t
work, as it melts to a froth. Add the herbs and seasoning, and some cider if it looks like drying out.
When done, about 30 minutes in all, serve with mashed potato and cider.
Sausage risotto
Sausages (previously cooked for preference)
Rice (risotto or paella rice is best, but any will do)
Onion
Diced sweet red or green pepper
Peas and/or sweetcorn
Quantities depend on numbers. I usually do this when I have leftover cooked sausages after a
barbecue. Chop them into 3-4cm sections.
Fry the onion and diced de-seeded pepper in some olive oil or butter. If your sausages are
uncooked, fry them with the onions. If they are cooked, cut into sections and add. When the
sausages are cooked, add the uncooked rice, stir and coat with oil and cook for a minute than add
stock or water, twice the volume of the rice (this is important-measure volume with a cup or
mug-1 rice to 2 water). Cover and cook slowly for 20 minutes, stir occasionally. Variations Try
chorizo, Polish or smoked sausage, or substitute some ham or cubed luncheon meat. I found many
sausage risotto recipes on the internet, check them out, when you've tried a few, invent your own.
Money and time saving tip-if decent sausages are on a 3 for 2 offer, cook more than you
need for one meal, the most convenient way of doing this is to bake them on a tin on the oven.
Donlt overindulge, let the surplus cool down, put them in a polythene bag or crock in the fridge the
next morning when they've cooled down, and slice them for sandwiches, great with mustard or
pickle, or sliced in a stir fry, or (as above) sausage risotto.
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