Very Slow Cooked Maple & Mustard Pulled Pork

This recipe takes an age, but it is so very worth it.  It is taken from the November editon of Good Food Magazine and takes slow roasting to a new level, but the results are spectacular.

Maple & Mustard Pulled Pork

Serves 6 or more or less depending how greedy you are.

Cooking: Takes 8 hours give or take

2kg pork shoulder

200g sea salt

300g light muscavado sugar

100g maple syrup

100g wholegrain mustard

2 tbsp English mustard powder

Take one pork shoulder, I had bone in with skin on.  I thought I would make a passing nod to my diet, so I got hubby to cut away the rind and some of the fat (have kept it in case I want crackling further down the line ;))

Mix the salt and 200g of sugar then rub all over the pork,place in a dish, cover with clingfilm and pop in the fridge overnight.

The next day wipe down the pork with kitchen roll to remove the salt and sugar mixture, you will see a change in the colour and texture of the pork.

Heat the oven to 140oc/120oc fan/GM1.  Mix up the remaining sugar, maple syrup, mustard and mustard powder and some ground pepper. Rub half of the mixture over the pork.  Place the pork on a rack in a roasting tin and roast uncovered for 6 hours.

Spoon the rest of the mixture over the pork and roast for a further hour.

Remove the meat from the tin and rest, covered loosely with foil.

I turned the sauce in the bottom of the tin into a sweet, tasty gravy by placing over heat and bringing to the boil, scooping off the bits of sugar that clumped together, sprinkle in some flour and add stock, stirring all the time and reduce.

The meat is tender enough to pull apart, which would be great for popping straight into bread rolls and served with a tangy red cabbage as the original recipe called for, but as I was cooking this for a Sunday lunch (and had been up at 6am to put the joint in the oven) we carved the meat (well, carved the meat that was not picked at as soon as it came out of the oven, as the gannets clamoured for the sweet, crispy end bits)

The recipe was so delicious, neither the maple or the mustard too overpowering, certainly one to do again as it was a bit of a showstopper without taking up too much of your own time as the oven does all the work.