Leg of pork

earthangel4, Mar 6, 8:29pm
I have a leg of pork,weight is 1.550.
I cook my roast very slow so that the meat fulls off the bone.
Rather then have the pork dry out,what time would I put it on please?
Thank you all in advance,yep I am learning,and have learn,t heaps off this thread.
Partner tells me I am becoming,a good cook.

earthangel4, Mar 6, 9:12pm
giving this a wee bump to whom might know.

jan2242, Mar 6, 9:21pm
No idea if this will help but I always cook my roasts in an oven bag - they never dry out this way. Just take it out to do the crackling at the end. I cook mine on 150 till it's cooked - I guess about 3 hours or less for yours?

ant_sonja, Mar 6, 9:44pm
Hi earthangel - I place my roast in a hot oven (around 230 degrees) for 20 - 45 minutes (depending on size) then I turn the heat right down to about 100 and leave until cooked.. We had 1.7kg leg of lamb last night I put in the oven around 2pm - we ate at 8PM and the meat was falling of the bone :-) I started it on hot for 30min, then down to 100-120 for the remainder of the day. I did heat the oven back up to 200 around 7.30pm as I wanted the top to crisp up a bit more which it did nicely - I cook all types of roast this way (Beef I actually turn down to 90) and never have I had a dry or tough one -A little water/stock & chopped up onions/herbs etc in the bottom of the pan will be the makings for a nice gravy as well - Oh and I always season my roasts well before they go in the oven and they usually sit raised on a separate roasting tray within the roasting pan but just in the pan is fine too.

earthangel4, Mar 7, 1:27am
Thank you so much,
Jan,checked the cupboards,but do,nt have any oven bags,so have put them on my grocery list,and will for sure do that method another time,but thank you for posting.
Ant_sonja,I have done your method,thank you for posting.
Will let you know how it turns out yum can,t wait lol lol

earthangel4, Mar 7, 6:14am
mmmm turned out a bit dry,but partner said pork is always dry,and I really need to learn how to cook crackle,It was like rubber,I ended up puting it in the micawave,o dear.

kinna54, Mar 7, 7:11am
sorry I didn't spot this thread sooner, but for future reference this may help:
Never fail crackle:
Firstly make sure the crackle is well scored with a sharp knife ( in close lines running right across and around the pork. I always re score my crackle as I find a lot of supermarket butchers don't do this anymore.)
Rub the crackle area thickly with marg or butter, and rub in a good tsp salt.
Preheat the oven to 230deg, (as in aunt sonja's post) and cook the porkfor around 25 mins, crackle should be bubbling) this also sears your meat.
Then remove the pork from the oven, allow the oven to cool to around 150deg.
Place the pork in an oven bag but cut away the top of the bag, so the pork at the bottom is covered but the crackle on the top is uncovered, (otherwise it will go soggy). If no oven bags use foil wrapped around the bottom part of the meat. Pork should be cooked around 30mins per every 500gms.
Before carving remove your meat from the oven and allow to stand or rest, around 10mins(this improves the flavour, and the carving of the meat.)Also if you ever do put crackling in the microwave make sure you cut away the underlying skin of fat, and cook on a paper towel. That does work but if you use the method posted you shouldn't need to. microwave at all, it should be ultra crisp.Hope this helps you for future endeavours, and good luck and enjoy.

earthangel4, Mar 7, 5:56pm
Kinna,
Don,t be sorry,its ok.
I have written this down in my cook book,for future reference,and thank you for posting,it all helps.

earthangel4, Mar 7, 8:29pm
I have a leg of pork,weight is 1.550.
I cook my roast very slow so that the meat fulls off the bone.
Rather then have the pork dry out,what time would I put it on please!
Thank you all in advance,yep I am learning,and have learn,t heaps off this thread.
Partner tells me I am becoming,a good cook.

ant_sonja, Mar 7, 8:30pm
hmm crackle :-) Mine gets finished off at the end of cooking time when I turn the oven temp back up. During the long slow cooking stage, the thick fat that you found got rubbery, under the skin, literally renders away so you are left with only the top skin layer to crackle - hope that makes sense :-) Kinna has also given you good instructions there although we seem to do things the opposite way around but this method might work well for your next attempt. There are so many different ways people do things, you will no doubt find something that works for you over time. Some people swear by using oven bags whereas I have only ever had disasters with those lol For the crackle, some people also pour boiling water over the pork skin prior to it going in the oven - I haven't tried this myself but I have 'soaked' the pork, skin side down, in a little water (so it doesn't reach past the skin/fat layer) for a couple of hours prior to roasting which I believes also helps - The scoring is very important and most pre-scored roasts aren't done very well these days so I usually by a cut that hasn't been done and score it myself. Was yours scored? How long did you end up roasting the meat for? I have heard a lot of people say that pork is always a little dry yet when I cook mine it comes out moist and tender so maybe it also has a little something to do with the overall fat content of the meat/animal. Pork Belly is another great cut to use for slow roasting and a yummy excuse for practicing your crackle skills :-D Let us know how you get on next time.

jan2242, Mar 7, 9:21pm
No idea if this will help but I always cook my roasts in an oven bag - they never dry out this way. Just take it out to do the crackling at the end. I cook mine on 150 till it's cooked - I guess about 3 hours or less for yours!

ant_sonja, Mar 7, 9:44pm
Hi earthangel - I place my roast in a hot oven (around 230 degrees) for 20 - 45 minutes (depending on size) then I turn the heat right down to about 100 and leave until cooked. We had 1.7kg leg of lamb last night I put in the oven around 2pm - we ate at 8PM and the meat was falling of the bone :-) I started it on hot for 30min, then down to 100-120 for the remainder of the day. I did heat the oven back up to 200 around 7.30pm as I wanted the top to crisp up a bit more which it did nicely - I cook all types of roast this way (Beef I actually turn down to 90) and never have I had a dry or tough one -A little water/stock & chopped up onions/herbs etc in the bottom of the pan will be the makings for a nice gravy as well - Oh and I always season my roasts well before they go in the oven and they usually sit raised on a separate roasting tray within the roasting pan but just in the pan is fine too.

earthangel4, Mar 8, 1:52am
Thank you ant_sonja,
You have given me some great ideas here,I wondered if I cooke dit too long,as I had to go out at 3pm,and did not return till 4.30.
I turned the cracker up two 200 while in the oven,then it started too burn,so took it out and put it in the micawave.
Partner bought it from the supermarket,I normally get it from the bucher.
I would really like to try a pork belly next time,thanksfor that.
In the end I cooked the pork for 4.5 hours,as I put it on at midday.
I also think it was not a nice cut of pork.
I will for sure let you know how I get on next time,am not going to give up.

kinna54, Mar 8, 7:11am
sorry I didn't spot this thread sooner, but for future reference this may help:
Never fail crackle:
Firstly make sure the crackle is well scored with a sharp knife ( in close lines running right across and around the pork. I always re score my crackle as I find a lot of supermarket butchers don't do this anymore.)
Rub the crackle area thickly with marg or butter, and rub in a good tsp salt.
Preheat the oven to 230deg, (as in ant -sonja's post) and cook the porkfor around 25 mins, crackle should be bubbling) this also sears your meat.
Then remove the pork from the oven, allow the oven to cool to around 150deg.
Place the pork in an oven bag but cut away the top of the bag, so the pork at the bottom is covered but the crackle on the top is uncovered, (otherwise it will go soggy). If no oven bags use foil wrapped around the bottom part of the meat. Pork should be cooked around 30mins per every 500gms.
Before carving remove your meat from the oven and allow to stand or rest, around 10mins(this improves the flavour, and the carving of the meat.)Also if you ever do put crackling in the microwave make sure you cut away the underlying skin of fat, and cook on a paper towel. That does work but if you use the method posted you shouldn't need to microwave at all, it should be ultra crisp.Hope this helps you for future endeavours, and good luck and enjoy.

earthangel4, Mar 8, 5:56pm
Kinna,
Don,t be sorry,its ok.
I have written this down in my cook book,for future reference,and thank you for posting,it all helps.

ant_sonja, Mar 8, 8:30pm
hmm crackle :-) Mine gets finished off at the end of cooking time when I turn the oven temp back up. During the long slow cooking stage, the thick fat that you found got rubbery, under the skin, literally renders away so you are left with only the top skin layer to crackle - hope that makes sense :-) Kinna has also given you good instructions there although we seem to do things the opposite way around but this method might work well for your next attempt. There are so many different ways people do things, you will no doubt find something that works for you over time. Some people swear by using oven bags whereas I have only ever had disasters with those lol For the crackle, some people also pour boiling water over the pork skin prior to it going in the oven - I haven't tried this myself but I have 'soaked' the pork, skin side down, in a little water (so it doesn't reach past the skin/fat layer) for a couple of hours prior to roasting which I believes also helps - The scoring is very important and most pre-scored roasts aren't done very well these days so I usually by a cut that hasn't been done and score it myself. Was yours scored! How long did you end up roasting the meat for! I have heard a lot of people say that pork is always a little dry yet when I cook mine it comes out moist and tender so maybe it also has a little something to do with the overall fat content of the meat/animal. Pork Belly is another great cut to use for slow roasting and a yummy excuse for practicing your crackle skills :-D Let us know how you get on next time.

pollypanner, Mar 8, 10:34pm
I always cook my roast in my crock pot, Pork i take out and put under the hot grill for 10mins to make crackling just before serving

beaker59, Mar 8, 10:42pm
All advice above is good I still occasionally have to finish the crackling in the Microwave it works :)

As for Dry roast pork one of the issues is nowdays Leg roast seems to ba a favourite but I prefer the shoulder roast it always comes out allot moister and tenderer sure it has more bone but that makes it tastier and it is a bit more difficult to carve but gives a nicer tasting roast.

Mind you I rarely oven roast as I love them slow cooked in the Kettle BBQ over charcoal.

purplegoanna, Mar 8, 11:45pm
yip oven bags are the best way, i score my crackling then rub in equal amounts of oil/salt, then bung in the bag with 1/4 water, few garlic cloves, a piece of orange rind and a sprig of rosemary then do the bag up leaving a finger sized hole, and cook for about 3hrs at 160-170' then take out of bag and turn up quickly to 220' for about 10-15mins till crackling finishes of.

purplegoanna, Mar 9, 11:45pm
yip oven bags are the best way, i score my crackling then rub in equal amounts of oil/salt, then bung in the bag with 1/4 water, few garlic cloves, a piece of orange rind and a sprig of rosemary then do the bag up leaving a finger sized hole, and cook for about 3hrs at 160-170' then take out of bag and turn up quickly to 220' for about 10-15mins till crackling finishes of.