Cold Roast Pork With Melon Recipes

PORK TENDERLOIN WITH MELON SALAD

Steps:

• Preheat a grill to medium high. Soak the onion in a bowl of cold water. Whisk the ginger, sugar, olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a small bowl until the sugar is dissolved.
• Season the pork with salt and pepper and rub with 1 tablespoon of the ginger oil. Lightly brush the grill grates with olive oil. Grill the pork, turning as needed, until well marked and a thermometer inserted into the center registers 145 degrees F, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest, 5 minutes.
• Meanwhile, thinly slice the melon, then cut into 2-inch pieces. Drain the onion and toss with the melon, 1 tablespoon of the ginger oil, the lime juice, mint, and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Sprinkle with the cashews.
• Cut each pork tenderloin into 8 pieces and divide among plates. Drizzle with the remaining ginger oil and serve with the melon salad.

PORK ROAST WITH CRISPY PORK CRACKLING

Steps:

• Dry skin: Pat the skin dry with paper towels. If time permits, leave in the fridge uncovered overnight (even 1 hr helps). If not, pat extra well.
• Preheat oven to 220°C/430°F (200°C fan).
• Season flesh: Sprinkle pork flesh with 1 1/2 tsp salt, all the pepper and all fennel seeds and 1 tbsp olive oil. Rub into flesh, right into all the crevices and cracks.
• Salt skin: Flip pork, drizzle skin with 1 tsp oil, then rub all over with fingers. Sprinkle all over with remaining 1 1/2 tsp salt, taking care to get even coverage. Un-salted patches will not become bubbly crackling, it will be a hard flat sheet.
• Garlic & onion bed: Place halved garlic bulbs and onion in roasting pan. Place pork skin side up on top of them.
• Wine: Carefully pour wine into the pan, being sure not to wet the skin. Transfer to oven.
• Lower oven: Immediately turn oven down to 160°C/320°F (140°C fan).
• Slow roast: Roast for 2 1/2 hours.
• Level at 1 1/2 hours: Check pork after 1 1/2 hours to see if the pork is warped and the skin's overall surface is significantly unlevelled. If so, adjust to make the skin surface as level as possible using balls of foil and moving large dislodged pork pieces to the side (key tip for crispy crackling, Note 3). Then return to oven for the remaining 1 hour.
• Check pan & salt on skin: If pan is drying out, add some water. If there are bald patches on the skin without salt (eg it fell off), spray lightly with oil spray (or brush lightly with oil) then sprinkle with salt. (Remember, salt = bubbly skin!)
• Increase heat: Turn oven up to 250°C/485°F (all oven types), or as high as it will go if your oven won't go this high.
• Make skin crisp: Return pork to oven for 30 minutes, rotating pan as needed, until skin is crisp and bubbly all over. If needed, use foil patches, secured with water soaked toothpicks, to cover parts that are done and keep crisping up remaining patches.
• Rest: Transfer pork to serving platter, tent loosely with foil (don't worry, crackling stays super-crisp) and rest for 20 minutes (stays warm up to 1 hour). Then slice using a serrated knife.
• Serve with gravy. Don't pour gravy over crackling - pour it off to the side! See note for reheating.

COLD ROAST PORK WITH MELON

Steps:

• Ask the butcher to trim two pork loins and to tie each securely with twine. Reserve the rind. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Meanwhile, combine the garlic, fennel seed, rosemary, thyme, black pepper and salt in a mortar and, using a pestle, grind to a fine paste. Using a sharp knife make about 12 incisions at regular intervals in each pork loin and tuck a small amount of the herb mixture into each incision.
• Place both pork loins on a rack in a baking pan. Add cold water until it reaches halfway up the side. Place the loins in the oven and bake until the internal temperature of the pork is 160 degrees, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven. Place the pork on a platter and refrigerate until cool.
• Meanwhile, strain the cooking liquid into a pan, place over medium heat and simmer until the volume has been reduced by half. Adjust the salt and pepper to taste and chill until the liquid has set into a loose jelly.
• Using a sharp knife, cut the melon into 1/4-inch dice. Combine the cubes with the juice of one lemon, toss and refrigerate until completely chilled.
• Use a sharp knife to slice the pork into 1/4-inch slices and fan the slices on individual plates in a circle. Place a mound of melon in the center of each plate. Serve with the cool pork jelly on the side.