Leg of Pork

[ChrisnChris]

I have a boneless leg of pork, 2.7 kg. There's a few of us for dinner tomorrow. The problem is, we're out from 10.30, back at about 6.30.
If this was a shoulder I wouldn't think twice about a long very low cook, however, will this work with leg, or will it tend to dry out.

It won't fit in the slow cooker btw.
Foil tent at about 110 and then blast at the end for crackling?

What do you think/recommend?

Cheers

[caiss4]

Personally I'd be tempted to cut in half and then cook as 2 x 1.3kgs joints together. I've done this in the past as cooking a single large joint of leg pork is very difficult to get even cooking. You risk dried out meat on the outside and still undercooked in the middle regardless of the temperature regime.

[21TonyK]

What sort of time you thinking of eating? There are a few options I can think of but what else are you putting alongside the pork?

[ChrisnChris]

21TonyK said:

What sort of time you thinking of eating? There are a few options I can think of but what else are you putting alongside the pork?

Flexible eating time but probably not after 8.30, as for accompaniments, haven't got that far yet! but am open to suggestions, could be just simple as in roast dinner, no one has any particular dislikes although one is intolerant to wheat.

[21TonyK]

Heres what I would do assuming you have the time.

First take the skin off and get the meat in brine, 5% salt, 5% sugar with garlic and whatever else you fancy, leave until tomorrow. Simmer the skin for half an hour in very heavily salted water, let it cool off a bit, cut into thin strips and get it in the oven spread out on trays at 85 degrees now, and leave it in there until you go out tomorrow.

Tomorrow remove the dried skin, it will be hard and hopefully look like bits of plastic.

Then get the oven hot, 250+ for at least 20 minutes to make sure it is up to temp.

Tie the leg into a joint, oil, season and put it on a rack in the oven for 15-20 mins until it looks nicely coloured.

Take the meat out, let the oven cool and wrap the meat in cling. As you go out put the joint on rack in a cold oven set to 110, it will take about 4 hours to cook but the extra time wont do any great harm and the brining will help retain moisture.

When you get back check the temp with a probe to make sure its hit 75, remove and cover leaving it to rest while you do whatever else.

All you then need to do is put the dehydrated skin in the oven at 215 for 4 minutes for perfect crackling,

[ChrisnChris]

Thanks Tony, I like the sound of that. I've only just taken it out of the freezer though I'll see what it's like at 12ish won't be heading for bed till 1 at the earliest.
It's already tied & I'll make up the brine now. I haven't cooked in cling film before, is there a Max temp before it melts? Is there any point in cling & foil.
I've just thought, if I'm going to take the skin off, I'll need to cut the string, or at least work round it, I haven't got any tying string, will the cling keep it together.....I'm not really prepared for this am I?

[21TonyK]

If you wrap it up tightly enough in cling it will be okay but you really need to wrap it up tightly. Cling is good to 200C, it will spilt at higher temps but at 100-130'ish its stable.

Even frozen, get it skinned and brined ASAP.

[ChrisnChris]

It's now in brine...only sliced through one piece of string, despite being a little tired and emotional......


Just going to simmer the skin....

Edited by ChrisnChris on Saturday 3rd November 23:12

Edited by ChrisnChris on Saturday 3rd November 23:21

Edited by ChrisnChris on Saturday 3rd November 23:26

Edited by ChrisnChris on Sunday 4th November 00:15

[21TonyK]

Hopefully you still have the skin in the oven, should be looking rather brown and dry by now. Leave it as long as you can,

[ChrisnChris]

21TonyK said:

Hopefully you still have the skin in the oven, should be looking rather brown and dry by now. Leave it as long as you can,

It was but as luck would have it, we had a power cut during the night so I have no idea how long it had , not enough because it's still soft I've put it back in. I'll be really pis sed off it happens again whilst we're out

[21TonyK]

To get that to turn into crackling you need to get it somewhere hot all day (hot is around 85-90 degrees). If you only have one oven thats going to be too hot for it if its cooking the pork. Slow cooker on some scrunched up foil or something??

[ChrisnChris]

I've put it in the top oven but the temp control on that isn't as good as the main oven.

[21TonyK]

in which case leave it all day on low <90

[ChrisnChris]

it's wrapped and in not as brown as I would like but I was running out of time to get it all cool before wrapping.

[21TonyK]

Not a problem, you can always finish off in a hot oven for 10 mins this evening.

[Tony Angelino]

21TonyK said:

To get that to turn into crackling you need to get it somewhere hot all day (hot is around 85-90 degrees). If you only have one oven thats going to be too hot for it if its cooking the pork. Slow cooker on some scrunched up foil or something??

Slow cooker crackling? Tell me more please......

[21TonyK]

Tony Angelino said:

Slow cooker crackling? Tell me more please......

Its a two step process. First dehydrate the skin and fat, I normally do this for 24 hours in an oven at 85 degrees but I didn;t know if the OP had a second oven so guessed a slow cooker with the skin kept off the bottom might do the same.

The next step is to put the dehydrated skin in a hot (215-220) oven for 4-5 minutes until it puffs up.



I also simmer the skin is heavily salted water before dehydrating.

Best bit is once dehydrated you can freeze the skin and cook from frozen.

Add chilli and salt and its a great snack

Edited by 21TonyK on Sunday 4th November 15:50

[Tickle]

21TonyK said:

Its a two step process. First dehydrate the skin and fat, I normally do this for 24 hours in an oven at 85 degrees but I didn;t know if the OP had a second oven so guessed a slow cooker with the skin kept off the bottom might do the same.

The next step is to put the dehydrated skin in a hot (215-220) oven for 4-5 minutes until it puffs up.



I also simmer the skin is heavily salted water before dehydrating.

Best bit is once dehydrated you can freeze the skin and cook from frozen.

Add chilli and salt and its a great snack

Edited by 21TonyK on Sunday 4th November 15:50

Cheers for sharing that Tony, they look fantastic!

[Tony Angelino]

Tickle said:

21TonyK said:

Its a two step process. First dehydrate the skin and fat, I normally do this for 24 hours in an oven at 85 degrees but I didn;t know if the OP had a second oven so guessed a slow cooker with the skin kept off the bottom might do the same.

The next step is to put the dehydrated skin in a hot (215-220) oven for 4-5 minutes until it puffs up.



I also simmer the skin is heavily salted water before dehydrating.

Best bit is once dehydrated you can freeze the skin and cook from frozen.

Add chilli and salt and its a great snack

Edited by 21TonyK on Sunday 4th November 15:50

Cheers for sharing that Tony, they look fantastic!

Ditto, will certainly try this.

[ChrisnChris]

Just to add some closure to this, from my end anyway, the last few pics.
I think the oven must have a pre programmed "off" at 6 hrs which as it happens wasn't a bad thing. I can't be certain of this, we weren't in!
When we got back, the outside light was on, I knew there hadn't been another power cut, a good start, but the oven showed "END"

I remember when I did a reverse sear rib of beef, 7.5kg I was in the kitchen when I saw "END" on the panel & had to re programme the temp to bring the oven back to life................anyway..............

All things considered I would say that this was a success, the meat was as tender as it could be, butter soft, there was still plenty of juice captured in the cling but I think it, understandably, suffered from over cooking.

I think I was hoping for the impossible, but the suggestion from Tony was very well received and it was great to try something new & I will definitely be following his method again, but we won't be going out!

I haven't got any pics of the entire meal, we had an issue with my Mum & I ended up taking her a plate, kind of enforced meals on wheels, but that's an entire new thread! website. It did mean I was out for the entire time the rest of the gang were eating, hey ho! it was very well received by everyone
Accompaniments; roast spuds, carrots, pointy cabbage, "semi" "home made**" sage & onion stuffing, broccoli, mashed swede

• I use packet stuffing mix and add lightly fried onion, fresh sage from the garden, chilli flakes, butter and olive oil. It's made in a dish, not formed into balls.

Thanks Tony for taking the time to share your knowledge, your posts are appreciated