For company
Roast pork with creamy cider mustard sauce
For something different from the original gammon: a whole bone-in pork shoulder roasted slowly in cider, verjuice, bay and peppercorns until tender and cooked through, with crackling crisped at the end and a sharp-yet-creamy cider-and-mustard sauce. A beautiful alternative for the Christmas table.
For something different from the original gammon, this will easily feed a crowd. The sharp yet creamy sauce is the perfect accompaniment — a lovely alternative to Christmas lunch options.
Sliced and served with the sauce
Method
- 01
Chill the pork, uncovered, overnight.
- 02
Bring the pork to room temperature, then preheat the oven to 180°C.
- 03
Place the pork in a roasting pan with the cider, verjuice, bay leaves and peppercorns, and season with salt.
- 04
Roast until tender and cooked through, 4–5 hours. A bone-in pork shoulder must be cooked all the way through; a meat thermometer reading above 71°C in the thickest part, away from the bone, confirms it. About 10–15 minutes before the end, increase the oven’s temperature to crisp up the crackling.
- 05
To make the sauce, pour the cider into a small saucepan and add the thyme. Add the cooking juices from the pork and reduce by half over medium heat.
- 06
Remove the thyme, then stir in the cream and both mustards. Simmer until smooth and slightly thickened, then season with salt.
- 07
Slice the pork and serve with the sauce.
In the glass
In the glass — the same dry cider, or an off-dry Riesling
You are already pouring a bottle of cider into the pan, so pour a chilled glass of the same dry cider alongside — the apple notes mirror the sauce and lift the rich pork. If you would rather stay with wine, an off-dry Riesling with a seam of acidity handles both the crackling’s salt and the mustard’s gentle bite, and a slightly off-dry Chenin Blanc from a good Swartland producer does the same job closer to home. Serve both well chilled.
Keep cooking
