Hand of Pork

[Gadget]

I was up in our local farmshop which has a very nice deli and butcher part to it, and best of all they breed the pigs and beef for it..Anyway I digress, on Sunday I had 10 people coming round for dinner so I went to the farmshop and they had a cut of meat called hand of pork, this is like the front shoulder/armpit of the pig, very meaty, it was £12 for nearly 3KG, bargain I thought, and was told to cook it very slowly so this is what I did:

In roasting tin, put onions, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme and 5 to 7 bayleaves, put the bones on-top, score the rind and massage with olive oil, then rub in salt and sage mix (I use maldon and a few sage leaves, pestle and mortar till it becomes a pale green colour) plop the meat on top of the bones and for 20 minutes put in very hot oven (200c) then turn the oven down to very low (110c) and let it cook for 6 hours, after this time take out of oven remove crackling, wrap pork up in tin foil and tea towels. Turn oven up to 175c Put half a bottle of white wine in with the veg and bone and pop back in, put the crackling on another tray and pop that back in for another 20 Min's.

Sieve the veg out, add a teaspoon of red current jelly, 2 tablespoons of double cream  - carve pork which falls apart, serve with roast potatoes cabbage or what ever you like.

Hope you enjoy it as much as all my guests. 

[pumpkinlover]

sounds lovely!!

[qahtan]

I am sure it was super.. funny I said to my husband last week people don't use the old and were well known names for cuts of meat any more.. what you are reffering to was the hand and spring but local pork how lovely... qahtan

[Gadget]

I think that some of the old (less known) cuts of meat are coming back into vogue, especially as they are much cheaper and just a delicious as the more popular cuts. Hopefully this will give rise to going back to the family butcher instead grabbing something in the supermarket, maybe a little more expensive but less waste 

[tonybloke]

I buy my pork from a local livestock allotment holder, 1/2 a pig @ a time. MMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Debs]

Hand of Pork is a lovely cut of meat - I have never seen it in any of the big supermarkets, but it is readily available in

our local butchers shops & very reasonably priced

Debs

[artichoke]

We used to rear pigs and the ones that were not good enough for market went into our freezer as huge lumps, so I got a bit tired of trying to make family friendly meals out of them.

And don't I regret those days now! In those days, the hand of pork had nipples and too much soggy belly pork on them....but you have reminded me how delicious they can be, and that I must support our local butcher, who grows his own pigs as well, but trims them better than our slaughterhouse did.

[bikegirllisa]

There's nothing quite like real meat from a butcher, as opposed to the watery rubbish you get in the supermarket!

[Gadget]

Did anyone see the fabulous Baker Brothers on Channel 4, they did a hand of pork and I thought that I would bring this recipe back again....a real bargin and really is the best joint, and the best bit is what is left over make a chilli con carne which is really scrummy.

[green lily]

You usually have to order a hand of pork from any butcher because they often use it to make their sausages as there is little demand for it. Belly is much more popular. My mother always bought a hand but I have to admit I think belly is best......Leg is far too dry for my taste

[Debs]

Had to find the recipe, sounds fab!
Here it is . . .


1 large joint of pork, such as a hand of pork.

For the marinade
2 tbsp honey.
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce.
2 tsp smoked paprika.
2 tbsp olive oil.
1 whole bulb of garlic, crushed by hand.
Plenty of fresh thyme.
Plenty of fresh rosemary.
2 big pinches of salt.
1 big pinch of pepper.
330ml bottle American pale ale.
Homemade pittas, to serve.

 
...

Method


1.
Put the pork into an oven tray. Start by scoring the pork along the skin as if making crackling.
.
2.
Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a bowl then cover the pork in the marinade. Rub the sauce and the garlic into the scored slits in the meat and leave the to marinate overnight.
.
3.
The next day preheat the oven to 240°C/gas mark 9. Put the pork into the oven for 20 minutes or until it gets a great colour. After 20 minutes take the meat out, cover it in tin foil and put it back into the oven at a cooler 140°C/gas mark 1 for 8 hours to slow roast. Eight hours later it should pull from the bone and be lovely and tender.
.
4.
Cut the pittas open down one side and fill with pulled pork. Drizzle some of the marinade sauce over the top and serve with coleslaw.

More of the recipes are here:

http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes/tv-show-recipes/the-fabulous-baker-brothers-recipes/

Debs