Recipe: Vietnamese Lemongrass Slow Roasted Pork Shoulder

Ingredients:

• 1.5kg pasture fed bone-in half pork shoulder
• 140g salt, plus extra
• 140g brown sugar
• 2 brown onions, sliced into thick rounds
• 250ml coconut water
• 50ml rice wine vinegar

Lemongrass Paste:

Make a double batch of this paste and freeze for next time.

• 5 lemongrass stalks, white part only, finely sliced
• 4 eschalots, chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, chopped
• 6cm piece ginger, grated
• zest and juice of 1 lime
• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp ground white pepper
• 2 tsp Chinese five-spice
• 2 tsp chilli flakes

Method:

• Remove pork from packaging and thoroughly pat dry skin.  Combine salt and sugar in a bowl and then rub all over pork.  Marinate for 4-6 hours, skin side up.
• Pre-heat oven to 120 degrees C.
• Blitz all lemongrass paste ingredients in a blender to form a rough paste.  Remove pork from cure, pat dry and rub paste ingredients on meaty side.  Place onions on bottom of baking tray, place pork on top and pour coconut water and rice wine vinegar into the tray.  Rub extra salt on pork skin.
• Cook for 4-6 hours at 120 degrees. At end of cooking time, turn oven up to 220°C and roast for 20 minutes or as long as it takes to get skin crackling.  Once cooked, remove pork from baking tray, cover loosely with foil and rest for 15 mins.  Slice and serve with reduced cooking liquid and an Asian noodle salad or our Corn, Tomato and Avocado Salad.