Sardinian-Style Porceddu Pork Shoulder with Myrtle and Fennel

⏱ 330 min · Serves 6

A home-oven homage to Sardinia's famous spit-roast suckling pig: pork shoulder rubbed with wild fennel, rosemary and myrtle berries, slow-roasted for hours until the meat collapses, then blasted hot so the skin shatters like glass. Serve simply, with lemon and coarse salt.

Per serving: 690 kcal · 58.0g protein · 2.0g carbs · 49.0g fat

Ingredients

• 2.5 kg bone-in pork shoulder, skin on and scored
• 2 tbsp coarse sea salt
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
• 1 tsp dried myrtle berries (or juniper berries), crushed
• 3 sprigs rosemary, leaves chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp black peppercorns, crushed
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 bay leaves
• 250 ml dry white Vermentino (or any dry white wine)
• 250 ml water
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges, to serve
• Extra coarse salt, to serve

Method

1. Pat the pork skin bone dry with kitchen paper. If not already scored, slash the skin at 1.5 cm intervals with a sharp knife, cutting through the fat but not the meat.
2. Mix the fennel seeds, myrtle berries, rosemary, garlic, pepper and 2 tbsp olive oil into a rough paste. Rub it into the underside and cut sides of the shoulder only, keeping the skin clean.
3. Rub the skin with the remaining 1 tbsp oil and the coarse sea salt, pressing salt into the scores. Leave uncovered in the fridge for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight, to dry the skin.
4. Heat the oven to 150C fan / 170C conventional. Sit the pork skin-side up on a rack in a roasting tin. Pour the wine and water into the tin below with the bay leaves.
5. Roast for 4 hours, topping up the liquid with a splash of water if the tin runs dry. The meat should be pullably tender and shrinking from the bone.
6. Turn the oven up to 240C fan / 260C conventional. Blot any moisture from the skin and roast for 20-30 minutes more, watching closely, until the crackling has puffed and blistered all over.
7. Rest the pork, loosely tented, for 20 minutes. Meanwhile skim the fat from the pan juices and reduce them in a small pan to a few spoonfuls of intense gravy.
8. Crack off the crackling in shards, pull or carve the meat, and serve with the pan juices, lemon wedges and a pinch of coarse salt.