Recipes, guides and kitchen know-how. Mostly useful, occasionally silly.
Slow Roast Pork Shoulder - Britain's First Christmas Do
Britain's first big midwinter party was a pig roast near Stonehenge. Here's the modern version: low and slow, then a blast for proper crackling.
Rate this recipe
- Prep15 min
- Cook3 hr 20
- Rest20 min
- Serves10-12
- Calories~630
Calories are approximate, per serving, worked out from the ingredients. Brands and portion sizes vary.
Every December, Aaron books the Christmas do three months early and laminates the seating plan.
4,500 years ago, people walked their own pigs to it. From Scotland.
I told Aaron this. He has not stopped talking about the logistics.
So here's the oldest party food in Britain: a pork shoulder, roasted low and slow, with crackling loud enough to wake the neighbours.
No pigs were walked to Wiltshire in the making of this post. Ours came from the butcher. In a van.
Britain's first Christmas do
Around 2500 BC, the people building Stonehenge lived a couple of miles up the road at Durrington Walls.
Every midwinter, thousands of them turned up for a feast.
How do we know it was midwinter? The pig teeth. Most were about nine months old, born in spring - so they were eaten around the winter solstice.
That's right. Britain's first Christmas do was a pork roast.
It wasn't called Christmas, obviously. That came along about 2,500 years later and took all the credit.
The guest list
In 2019, Cardiff University tested the bones of 131 pigs from Durrington Walls and three other feasting sites around Stonehenge and Avebury.
Hardly any were local. Some came from north-east Scotland - more than 500 miles away - and they came on the hoof. And Aaron complains about the M4.
The researchers think there may even have been a rule: bring a pig you raised yourself. The original bring-a-dish. Swine and dine.
Erin has since decreed that everyone coming to ours this Christmas brings a pig. Isaac pointed out that we live in a semi.
What was on the menu
Burnt foot bones say the pigs were roasted over open fires - and pigs outnumbered cattle ten to one.
The pots on site still carry traces of pork and beef, and about a quarter held dairy. Someone brought cheese. There's always someone.
Plenty of bones were thrown away with meat still on them.
4,500 years on, Britain still over-caters at Christmas. It's not greed. It's heritage.
We've swapped the open fire for an oven, and the guesswork for a thermometer. Progress.
What you need
- 2.5-3kg boneless pork shoulder, skin on, unrolled. Flat skin crackles all over. Ask the butcher not to roll or tie it.
- 3 tsp coarse cooking salt. Not flakes, not table salt. The salt is what makes the skin bubble.
- 1¼ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp fennel seeds. Or sage and thyme if fennel isn't your thing.
- 4 tsp olive oil
- 1 bulb garlic, halved across the middle
- 2 onions, halved. The pork sits on these, out of the juices.
- 500ml apple juice. Stops the tin burning and keeps the skin supple while it slow-cooks. Water at a push.
For the gravy
The gravy goes next to the crackling. Never on it. Aaron has this in laminate.
- 3 tbsp fat from the roasting tin
- 30g plain flour
- 500ml low-salt chicken stock
- Salt and pepper
Kit
- A meat thermometer. The only way to know what's going on inside a 3kg shoulder without asking it.
- A large roasting tin
- Foil. For levelling. Balls of it.
- A serrated knife, for the crackling
- A sieve and a small saucepan, for the gravy
How to make slow roast pork shoulder
Step 1 - Dry the skin
- Pat the skin bone-dry with kitchen paper.
- If it came vac-packed, leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight - even an hour helps.
- The test: run a finger across it. Glides = dry. Tacky = keep going.
Tyson has form with uncovered meat. It went on the top shelf. Isaac sat by the fridge.
Step 2 - Season and salt
- Heat the oven to 220C (200C fan, gas 7).
- Rub the flesh side with 1½ tsp salt, all the pepper and fennel, and 1 tbsp oil.
- Flip it. Rub 1 tsp oil over the skin, then scatter the other 1½ tsp salt evenly. Any bald patch stays leathery.
- Sit the pork skin up on the garlic and onions in the tin, cut sides up, and pour the apple juice in around it - not over the skin.
Eesha checked my salting like it was homework. "Missed a bit." I got a detention.
Step 3 - Slow roast
- Put it in and straight away turn the oven down to 160C (140C fan, gas 3).
- Roast uncovered for 2½ hours. For 1.5kg, take off 30 minutes. For 3.5-4.5kg, add 30-45 minutes and an extra 250ml of juice.
- The skin will still be soft and rubbery. That's right. Don't panic.
It's meant to look disappointing at this stage. Like a first draft. Or Aaron before a coffee.
Step 4 - Level it
- At 1½ hours, have a look. Shoulder buckles as it cooks.
- Prop the low bits up with balls of foil so the skin's as flat as you can get it.
- Tin drying out? Add a splash of water. Bare patches on the skin? A dab of oil and a pinch of salt.
- Back in for the last hour.
High points crackle. Valleys stay chewy. Pork, like Aaron, needs levelling out now and then.
Step 5 - Check the temperature
- Push the thermometer into the thickest part, away from the fat seams.
- Safe is 70C for 2 minutes - the standard UK food safety line.
- For tender slices, look for 75C or more. To pull it apart with forks, keep going low until it's around 90C.
- Not there yet? Back in at 160C and check every 15-20 minutes.
Cook to temperature, not the clock. Every shoulder is a different shape and size. The clock is guessing. The thermometer isn't.
Lara wanted to know why we didn't just ask the pig. We've stopped answering Lara's questions after 7pm.
Step 6 - Blast the crackling
- Turn the oven up to 250C, or as high as it goes.
- Roast for up to 30 minutes, turning the tin now and then, until the skin is bubbly all over.
- Fan ovens run hot - start checking at 10 minutes.
- Bits done early? Cover them with a square of foil, pinned with a soaked cocktail stick.
The smoke alarm went off. Ayden played it a short piano accompaniment. Nobody asked.
Step 7 - Rest and carve
- Lift onto a board and tent loosely with foil. Rest for 20 minutes - it stays warm for up to an hour.
- Lift the crackling off in one sheet and break it up, or slice straight through with a serrated knife.
Royal decree: the first piece of crackling goes to the princess. The second went to Tyson. Nobody gave it to him.
Step 8 - Make the gravy
- Spoon 3 tbsp fat from the tin into a small pan, then strain everything else through a sieve, pressing the onions and garlic. Skim off the extra fat.
- Heat the fat, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.
- Whisk in the stock, then the strained juices. Simmer for about 3 minutes until it coats a spoon. Season.
- Serve it next to the crackling.
Aaron poured gravy on the crackling once. In 2019. We still talk about it at Christmas.
If it goes wrong
Crackling still rubbery? Your oven isn't getting hot enough.
Fix: lift the crackling off and put it back in the hottest oven you've got, or the air fryer at 200C for 20-25 minutes. Rest the meat meanwhile. Crackling: the only thing in this house improved by a second go in the hot seat.
Burnt patches? Fan ovens at 250C can catch it in 10 minutes.
Fix: foil over the done bits early and keep turning the tin. A bit of char is "rustic". A lot of char is "Neolithic".
Gravy too salty? Salt from the skin slid into the tin.
Fix: let it down with more stock or water, and don't add any more salt. Aaron tastes it, frowns, tastes it again. That's the system.
Meat tough? It hasn't got hot enough inside.
Fix: back in at 160C until the thermometer says 75C or more, then blast and rest. It's not tough. It's just not finished. Like Isaac's homework, which he did in his head.
Guests running late? It happens. They're bringing a pig.
Fix: rested pork stays warm under loose foil for up to an hour. Prehistoric guests walked 500 miles. Yours got stuck at Membury services.
Leftovers? Obviously. It's tradition.
Fix: store the crackling and meat separately. Reheat the meat covered, and crisp the crackling in the oven at 160C for 5-8 minutes. Tyson is not a storage solution. Tyson disagrees.
How long to cook pork shoulder
For a 2.5-3kg boneless pork shoulder, allow about 3 hours 20 minutes in the oven: 2½ hours at 160C (140C fan), then up to 30 minutes at 250C, plus a 20 minute rest.
Aaron has this on a laminated card. In two fonts.
- About 1.5kg: 2 hours low, then the crackling blast.
- 2.5-3kg: 2½ hours low, then the blast.
- 3.5-4.5kg: 3 to 3¼ hours low, with an extra 250ml of apple juice in the tin, then the blast.
- For pulled pork: keep it low until it's around 90C inside, then blast. It takes longer. That's the point.
The times get you close. The thermometer decides: 70C for 2 minutes is safe, 75C or more slices tender.
Pork shoulders don't read recipes. Neither does Lara.
Bone-in or boneless pork shoulder?
Boneless and unrolled gives the best crackling, because the skin lies flat and gets the heat evenly.
Bone-in works too. It takes longer, the skin is harder to get level and you'll be carving round a bone, so lean on the foil balls and the thermometer.
A rolled, tied joint keeps its shape but hides half the skin in the spiral. I asked the butcher to untie one. He looked at me like I'd untied his shoelaces.
Whichever you buy, skin on is not up for discussion. No skin, no crackling, no point. Erin's words, delivered from a throne.
Can you cook pork shoulder in a slow cooker?
Yes, for soft pulled pork - but a slow cooker can't make crackling, so take the skin off first and crisp it separately in the oven.
Cook the meat on low until it reaches around 90C and pulls apart with two forks.
Meanwhile, salt the skin and roast it on its own in the hottest oven you've got until it bubbles all over. Watch it closely - it goes from golden to Neolithic quickly.
Aaron once tried to make crackling in the slow cooker. It came out as a sort of pork flannel. We don't talk about it. Except here.
Can you make slow roast pork shoulder ahead?
Yes. Rested under loose foil it stays warm for up to an hour, and it can be roasted the day before and reheated.
Cooking the day before: cool the meat quickly, get it into the fridge within 2 hours, then reheat it covered until it's steaming hot all the way through. That's the Food Standards Agency's advice, and it's Aaron's too.
Keep the crackling separate and uncovered, then crisp it at 160C for 5-8 minutes just before serving. Covered crackling goes soft. It's basically sulking.
Eat any leftovers within 2 days. The FSA recommends it. Tyson considers it optimistic.
To serve it the British way: apple sauce, roast potatoes, red cabbage and something green. Bramley apples for the sauce, obviously. That story's coming in December.
Feeding the whole family on the day? Here's how we go about timing a big Christmas dinner so the pork isn't the only thing on time.
Next time on A History of British Cooking: the Romans, and how chicken went from sacred to Sunday lunch.
Now go and crackle something. Leave the pig at home.
