- 1.8kg pork shoulder joint
- A handful of rosemary, leaves only
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 tsp cumin seeds
- 1½ tbsp smoked paprika
- Sea salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1.
Heat your oven to its highest setting. Unwrap your pork. Set it in a roasting tin and leave to get up to room temperature.
- 2.
Finely chop the rosemary leaves and crush them with the peeled garlic cloves and a good pinch of salt and pepper in a pestle and mortar (or use a bowl and a jam jar to roughly crush them together). Mix in 2 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tbsp smoked paprika. When you have a sand-like mixture, pour in 3 tbsp olive oil to make a paste.
- 3.
Massage the paste all over the pork, making sure it's rubbed in well.
- 4.
Roast the pork for 30 mins, till the skin starts to puff up and it’s turning into crackling.
- 5.
Remove the pork from the oven. Reduce the temperature to 160°C/140°C/Gas 3. Baste the pork with the juices. Cover the tin tightly with a double layer of foil. Place it back into the oven to roast for a further 2 hours.
- 6.
Take the pork out of the oven – it should be meltingly soft with crispy skin. If the skin isn’t crisp enough, pop under a hot grill for 2 mins. Rest for at least 30 mins before carving.
- 7.
Drizzle the dish juices over the carved meat. Serve with slices of crisp crackling.
- Tip
Extra, extra?
Fold leftover shreds of meat (and any leftover roast potatoes) in our marvellously easy Smoke & Spice Veg Stew at www.abelandcole.co.uk/recipes
