Leg of pork - oven roast or slow cook?

lbt_2

OK, I have decided!!

I am going to try it in the slow cooker - I have a bed of carrots, cellery and onion and have popped the leg of pork on top. Might add a little wine, not sure. Might brown for the last 20 mins depending on whether I am home or not.

It is still half price in T so I might get another one and try it oven roasted.

Will post on how I get on.

shelley_crow

My last pork roasting venture was an unmitigated disaster.

For slow cooking, I've got high and low cooking settings, would it be alright if I put the pork in without anything else on a low setting (takes 8 hours)?

gizmo111

shelley_crow wrote: »

My last pork roasting venture was an unmitigated disaster.

For slow cooking, I've got high and low cooking settings, would it be alright if I put the pork in without anything else on a low setting (takes 8 hours)?

Yep I usually add about inch of boiling water to the bottom of pot and rub salt on top in prep for crackling.

lbt_2

lbt wrote: »

OK, I have decided!!

I am going to try it in the slow cooker - I have a bed of carrots, cellery and onion and have popped the leg of pork on top. Might add a little wine, not sure. Might brown for the last 20 mins depending on whether I am home or not.

It is still half price in T so I might get another one and try it oven roasted.

Will post on how I get on.

Well what a success! The house smelt amazing all day, and the meat was gorgeous. I think I cooked it for longer than I needed to because the meat that wasn't covered in liquid was a tiny bit dry - I cooked it for 10 hours on high, it was a 2.5k leg.

I made gravy from the cooking liquid and mashed into it the veggies that the pork had been cooked on, then sieved it.

Hubby went back for more so what more can I say? :T

Kadeeae

I've got a pork leg joint (bone in) that was given to us by the IL's. It is approx. 1.8kg.

I would love to try roasting this in the oven on a low temp overnight :eek: I have searched and searched and only come across one 'recipe' that used pork leg and it was a much larger joint, over 4kg. I have found quite a few other 'recipes' - including from my beloved JamieO for roasting pork overnight, but they are all shoulder joints and large or XL.

Has anyone here every roasted anything overnight? Is there some reason this method would not work with the leg pork?? JamieO states to do it only with a whole shoulder, but fails to mention why. I am sooo tempted to give it a go but would hate for it to turn out horribly.

If I do it, it would be going in the oven tomorrow (Saturday) night for Sunday's dinner. Have to get offline now, but will check back tomorrow for all advice (please!).

OneWingedAngel_2

I would just bring the time down accordingly with the weight. Its not at all likely to turn out awful as most pork loves being long and slow cooked. My friend did this once cooking the joint for 6 hours with onions garlic etc it was beautiful and just fell apart. Absolutly fantastic meat. It should be worth a go. You really can not ruin cuts of meat by slow cooking them.

thriftlady_2

Kadeeae, before you start check your oven will stay on for that length of time. I tried this but discovered my oven had a safety feature which meant it turned off after 6 hours. Goodness was I cross! Fortunately I was able to work round this and switch it on again a couple of times.

The reults were excellent btw and I recommend it. Both Nigella and Hugh F-W have recipes for long roasted pork shoulder. I'm sure it will be just as good with leg. I think shoulder is recommended because it is cheaper and this method makes a cheap cut taste fantastic.

Funnily enough I have a smallish shoulder joint which I bought today for tomorrow's lunch. I'm not going to be able to cook it for more then 5 hours but I trhink that'll be enough as it isn't very big. Must remeber to take some pics.

Debt_Free_Chick

This is what Hugh has to say (in his Meat book)

"The leg is very lean, so you need the best possible pork for a roast that won't dry out - a good layer of fat to protect it, plus as much marbling as possible. Slow roasting will keep the meat tender, with just a blast of heat at the end to crackle the crackling."

He doesn't give a recipe or guidelines but he does an Aromatic Shoulder of Pork "Donnie Brasco". You don't need to use the recipe, but perhaps the cooking guidelines would help?

I've tried this recipe and it's absolutely fantastic

ChocClare

Shoulder (of pork or lamb) is much fattier than leg; therefore you can cook it much longer as the fat bastes the meat and adds wonderful flavour. The only thing you have to watch with leg is that it can dry out without the extra fat.

You can get round this by smearing the joint with olive oil and covering the dish in foil. My old-fashioned recipe books talk about barding the meat (literally sewing strips of fat through the meat so it's not so lean). It sometimes helps to blast the meat on a really high heat for 10-15 minutes first (to seal everything) and then turn it right down. If you turn the heat right down and cook it for a long time it's effectively the same as with a slow cooker - and you know how tender meat is when you cook it like that.

Kadeeae

Thanks all, I really appreciate the input I'm gonna do it! I always slow roast belly pork for absolute ages on low and adore that, so I'm hoping with a bit of care this will be as nice.

Thirftlady- I never would have thought of that, I'm usually up at least once during the night so I'll check to make sure it's still on.

I will brush it good with oil, chuck it in on the hottest setting for a short bit and then waayyy down, just before going to bed (11ish). Wish me luck, I'll check back before shutting down the laptop today just in case there is any last minute advice, lol.