Organic Mexican roast pork shoulder with grapefruit and Scotch Bonnet chilli

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Helen Graves' Mexican roast pork recipe gives a traditional Sunday roast a spicy, vibrant, Mexican twist. Heat from scotch bonnet chillies and the fragrance of zesty grapefruit add some warmth to this hearty recipe.

First published in 2016

This is slow roast pork with Mexican vibes. The pork is smothered in a paste with grapefruit zest, then cooked in the oven with the grapefruit juice, scotch bonnet chilli and onions, bubbling down to a spicy gravy.

The chilli in the drizzle is mellowed by the citrus juice, which also adds important acidity to the finished dish. If you’d rather leave out the chilli however, just use the spring onions instead.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Roast pork

Spice rub

Grapefruit drizzle

Method

1
Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas mark 2
2
Pat the pork dry with kitchen paper and score through the skin in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife (or have your butcher to do this for you)
3
In a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic with the salt and cumin seeds. Add the grapefruit zest (save the juice) and pound again, then mix in the black pepper, sweet paprika and sugar. Rub this mixture all over the pork, making sure to get into any gaps in the skin
4
Place the pork in a roasting tin and add the scotch bonnet chilli, onions, thyme and bay leaves. Mix the grapefruit juice with 200ml water and pour into the tin
5
Sprinkle a little extra salt over the pork, wrap everything tightly with foil and roast in the oven for 3½ hours, before removing the foil and roasting for a further hour, or until the top is covered with crisp, golden crackling and the meat is very tender
6
Make the drizzle an hour before you want to serve the pork by combining everything in a bowl and mixing well (the citrus juice will mellow the heat of the chilli and the onion during this time). Serve with the roast pork and crisp crackling

Helen Graves is Head of Content at Great British Chefs. She's also the author of the cookbook LIVE FIRE: Seasonal Barbecue Recipes and Stories of Live Fire Traditions, Old and New, and the editor of Pit, an independent magazine with roots in live fire cooking.

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