BY BILL ST JOHN

Adapted by Bill St. John from The Food of Spain, Claudia Roden (HarperCollins, 2011).

Serves 6-8.

Ingredients
  • 4 pounds Niman Ranch pork shoulder, superfluous fat removed, skin or rind still on
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 4 teaspoons sea or kosher salt
  • 8 whole small Ela Family Farms apples (see note)
  • 1 cup hard cider (or plain apple juice or cider)

Directions
  1. Butterfly the pork (or ask the Marczyk butcher to do the same) so that it resembles a piece of pork belly (or a thick, open book). Put the pork on a rack in a roasting pan (if you don't have a rack, grease the pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil). Sprinkle one side of the pork with 2 teaspoons salt, rubbing it into any cuts or tears, especially if any are in the rind. Repeat with another 2 teaspoons on the other side. Let the salt "work" on the meat for 10 minutes.
  2. Shake off any excess salt, wipe the rind or skin side with paper towels and rub 1 tablespoon olive oil into both sides. Turn the pork rind side up.
  3. (For additional flavor, you also may brown both sides of the meat in a large skillet before the next step. No need for additional oil; some of the exterior fat will render and aid in browning.)
  4. Roast in a preheated 425-degree oven for 30 minutes, until the rind has started to puff up. Reduce the heat to 375 degrees and cook for about 2 hours, until the crackling is crisp and brown. You may baste the meat, and turn it over, 2-3 times during this stage, if you like.
  5. Meanwhile, put the apples in a baking dish that holds them all snuggly and pour the hard cider (or juice or cider) into the bottom. At the point above when you have lowered the oven heat, place the dish of apples on the rack below the roast and cook until the apples are tender when pierced with a knife. The time depends on the apples' size and degree of ripeness. Start checking them after 40 minutes. Remove the apples when they are done and set aside.
  6. Later, return the apples to the oven when the pork is almost done; heat them through. Or, alternatively, about 10 minutes before the pork is finished in the oven, carefully lift and position the apples into the roasting pan with the pork. The whole preparation, thus arranged, makes for a comely presentation.
  7. Let the pork rest for 15 minutes, covered with foil, before cutting or ripping it into thick slices or chunks. Serve with the roasted apples, getting some apple and pork in each forkful.
Note: If using other than Ela Family Farms apples for this preparation, use smallish McIntosh, Braeburn, Granny Smith, Jonathan or Jonagold. Red Delicious, Honeycrisp or Fuji, as substitutes and as a rule, won't work very well.