Sunday 8 April 2012

Overnight sensation

Fist of all - happy Easter to everyone!  Hope you have a lovely weekend.  I managed to hold out until 10.30am before a piece of chocolate passed my lips - that has to be a record.  Normally I cannot wait to get my hands on my Easter egg.  
Today we have both 'children' home, along with their partners, dog and also my mother in law.  So I ordered a nice shoulder of pork on the bone to make a change from the normal Easter lamb.  My husband picked it up from the butcher and I did notice that the bag looked a little larger and heavier than I was expecting.  I had left the size up to the butcher, just telling him I needed it for 7 people.  So yesterday afternoon I thought I would start to plan my timings for dinner and weighed it.  4kg.  That's a big bit of pork.  But the recipe I was planning to use only uses 2kg.  Do I double cooking time?  Can't be too careful with pork.  Much trawling of  the Internet ensued and nowhere could I find timings for what I now felt to be half a pig.  Gave myself a mental slap on the forehead and realised the easiest thing to do would be to ask the advice of my daughter's boyfriend.  I mean, he's a professional chef, if anyone knew it would be him.  So his advice was to cook it overnight.  Low and slow and the meat will fall off the bones and melt in your mouth apparently.  Overnight.  That's a long time.  But having asked advice I couldn't very well ignore it could I?  
So Percy Pig has been in the oven since 11pm last night.  Basting in a mix of apple juice and vegetable stock.  Sitting on a bed of carrots, garlic and celery.  I woke twice in the night and had to pop downstairs to check on him.  First of all at 2am I thought I couldn't hear the fan from the oven and was convinced it had broken. Sneak downstairs. All was fine.  At 5am I had a bad dream that I went downstairs in the morning and it had shrivelled up like a lump of coal.  Sneaked downstairs.  Still looked the same size and extremely succulent.  It's now mid day and it looks amazing.  My personal chef knew what he was talking about after all!  

9 comments:

scrappyjacky said...

Jamie Oliver does that with pork and lamb.....so it was obviously perfect advice!!
Happy Easter.

Denise said...

Sounds good to me - we have a lovely leg of lamb today xx

Jo.C said...

I would have been the same - was like that when I did the Christmas cakes too late and had it on a timer. Had to run down and check the oven had switched off and it wasn't a charred mess. Bet the lovely cooking smells didn't help either.
Enjoy your meal if you can keep your eyes open. Happy Easter

Maria Ontiveros said...

Sounds lovely. We're having spanakopita and Greek ribs. Trilled the internet for the rib recipe.
Rinda
Ps Happy Easter!

Scrappi Sandi said...

My mouth is watering at the thought of that slow-cooked pork! enjoy!! We'll be sitting down to butter basted chicken this evening! Happy Easter!

Anonymous said...

We were fortunate enough to have been invited over to David's sisters for lunch and Gracia and I enjoyed a delicious nut roast whilst everyone else had roast pork. Happy Easter to you xxx

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Sometimes it's better to rely on a professional! I'll bet your house smells amazing too. Happy Easter to you and yours!

Alison said...

Happy Easter Deb..hope the pork tasted as good as you've described it!
Alison xx

Sian said...

My mouth is watering at the thought of it..and it sounds like you would have had enough for a few extra guests too..

Happy Easter!