Oven Roasted Pork
Ingredients
1.7-2 kg pork neck, whole piece
1/2 small onion (about 30g)
juice from 1 orange (50ml)
zest from 1/4 of an organic orange
1 level teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon Nduja (about 30g; or 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika + 2 tablespoons olive oil)
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
salt, black pepper
How to prepare oven roasted pork
- Pat the pork neck dry with paper towels. If desired, you can tie it with kitchen string to give it a more rounded shape and to maintain this shape during cooking. Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- In a mini food processor or with an immersion blender, blend all ingredients from the onion to the rice vinegar.
- Massage the piece of meat with the paste obtained and let it rest at room temperature between 30 and 60 minutes. Grind some more black pepper on top.
- Preheat the oven to 170C. Place the meat in a Dutch oven that fits it and put the lid on. If you don't have a Dutch oven, wrap it in aluminum foil and place it in an oven-safe baking dish.
- Roast the meat at 170C for 2 hours. Ideally, you should have a meat thermometer and check that the internal temperature exceeds 85C, but doesn't go above 90C. I stopped mine at 86C.
- Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and let the roast rest covered for another 20-30 minutes.
- It's great served immediately, the meat will be extremely tender, falling apart in shreds. But surprisingly, I liked it just as much the next day, sliced cold. Hot, you can serve it with a portion of oven-baked wedge potatoes and a fresh salad. Cold, it's great with pickles or in sandwiches (with hummus).
Oven Roasted Pork
