ROAST RACK OF pork
with Choucroute and Charcutière Sauce

1 x 1.6 kg (3 lb 7 oz) pork rack, with 4 bones

50 g (1¾ oz) salt

100 ml (3½ fl oz) non-scented cooking oil

2 litres (4¼ pints) Choucroute

400 ml (14 fl oz) Charcutière Sauce

This dish is the perfect way to showcase Bangalow pork, with its sweet succulent meat, layer of tasty fat and crisp shell of crackling. To me this is what roast pork is all about.

Ask your butcher to ‘French’ the rack and remove the chine bone. Leave the skin and all the fat intact.

TO PREPARE THE PORK, clean each of the four bones by scraping away any remaining fat, meat and sinew so they are perfectly clean. Use a very sharp knife to score the skin from top to bottom at 5 mm (¼ in intervals), cutting right through the skin to the fat underneath. The scoring is important as it allows the salt to penetrate the skin and help draw out moisture and it also allows much of the fat to melt away in the cooking. This will result in a airy, crisp crackling.

Massage the salt into the pork skin, making sure you get it into all the incisions. Put the pork upside down on a wire rack set over a tray and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Preheat your oven to 220°C (425°F). Use a dry cloth to rub away any moisture from the pork. Heat a baking tray over a medium heat and add the oil. When hot, add the pork, skin side down, and cook for around 6 minutes until the skin has begun to colour. Put in the oven and roast for 20 minutes. Turn the rack over and roast for another 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to rest in a warm place for 20 minutes.

While the pork is resting, warm through the choucroute and the charcutière sauce.

TO SERVE, carve the pork into 4 thick cutlets. Divide the choucroute between each serving plate and arrange a cutlet on top. Spoon the sauce around and serve straightaway.

Serves 4 as a main course