In the bleak mid-winter



Siberia

The view from my balcony window resembles what I imagine a nuclear fall out would be like.  Thankfully it is not radioactive dust, it’s snow and it is falling with real purpose.  It looks like I’ll be spending this Saturday in a perpetual snow globe.  January is bearable (only bearable mind) with the addition of good hearty food.  It’s bleakness warrants a culinary hot water bottle.  I actually cooked this last Sunday, but it is perfect for today’s extreme weather; roast pork with red cabbage.  If you are wondering where the apple sauce is, well, I burnt it, so it went in the bin!

The red cabbage is not my recipe, it’s Nigella Lawson’s and well it’s bloody brilliant.  The only person who doesn’t like it is my Mum, but she has something against red cabbage in general which I will never understand, so we can discount her opinion.  Not only does it taste good, it smells good and a little bit Christmassy, so it helps erode the January gloom.  Since it is a UK recipe it calls for mixed spice, which I have discovered is not a common spice mix here in Canada, although you can find it if you go to a decent supermarket or try an Asian or Indian grocer.  If you can’t get it, replace it with pumpkin spice, which is essentially the same mix, maybe the quantities of each spice vary, but it will do the same job.  The other great thing about this recipe is that it requires zero skill, you can’t over cook it; in fact the longer it cooks, the better the flavour, and it freezes well.

A lovely plate of food!

The last time I tried roast pork, I failed on the crackling.  It was chewy and soft.  The whole point of roast pork is the crackling, so I have been reluctant to try it again.  Aided by Leith’s Cookery Bible, one of my new Christmas gifts, I tried again.  Thinking back to my last disaster, I think I know where I went wrong; I ignored instructions that were seemingly optional.  The first being let the pork dry out.  Sounds wrong, right, because you want a juicy piece of pork?  I bought my pork shoulder on the Saturday afternoon, and as soon as I got it home, I removed it from the plastic wrap and polystyrene tray, placed it on a plate on top of some kitchen paper and placed it in the fridge uncovered.  So my advice would be if you want to roast pork, buy it the day before, so it has 24 hours to dry out.  If you buy it the same day or even the same afternoon you are going to cook it, the results won’t be as good.
 
The second rule was to get the meat to room temperature before placing it in the oven.  If your joint has been in the fridge overnight like mine had, then it will take a good 2-3 hours to get the fridge chill off it.  Change the kitchen paper if it is soaked through, and wipe/pat the meat so it is dry.

The best crackling I ever made!

Before you put the joint in, get a really sharp knife or even better a Stanley knife or one of those retractable parcel cutter blades.  Draw the blade lengthways over the skin – don’t apply too much pressure, you don’t want to go through to the meat.  Leave a gap of about 0.5cm and make the next incision.  Drizzle the skin with oil and rub in some sea or rock salt.  Be quite liberal with the salt, and you’ll get crispy, crunchy, salty crackling.  I cooked mine based on the 25 minutes per 450g/1lb rule, at a temperature of 220c/425f/gas mark 7 for the first 25 minutes, then I reduced it to 375f/190c/gas mark 5 for the remainder of the cooking time.  I think the salt and the scoring definitely plays it’s part, but it is the earlier preparation that’s the real key.

Nigella Lawson’s red cabbage

Olive oil
1 onion, halved and cut into thin half moons
1 tablespoon rock/sea salt or 1/2 tsp table salt
1 red cabbage, finely shredded
3 tbsps soft light brown sugar
375ml red wine
juice of one orange
1/4 mixed spice (or pumpkin spice)
2 eating apples, peeled and chopped into small chunks

Get the largest casserole pan you have and over a low-medium heat add a tablespoon of olive oil, then the onion and salt.  Soften the onion,  but don’t colour.  The salt helps the onion to stop catching and colouring.  After about 4-5 minutes add the shredded red cabbage, sprinkle over the sugar and pour in the wine and orange juice and scatter over the mixed spice.  Let everything wilt down for a bit and lastly add the apple chunks and stir them in.  Place a lid on top and cook at the lowest temperature possible for 2 hours.  It doesn’t really matter if you could it for longer.