What do you do with quinces if you don’t have a sweet tooth? Since they resemble apples in flavour, are as hard as bullets and take long, slow cooking to become tender, they do make a great accompaniment to roast pork. Do be careful when you are peeling the blighters, though – knives tend to slip off.
Planning
| serves: | 4 |
| preparation time: | 20 mins |
| cooking time: | 2 hrs |
Ingredients
- 3 lbs boned shoulder of pork
- 2 large quinces
- 2 red onions, peeled
- 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
- 2 medium red chillies, deseeded and cut in strips
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 oz caster sugar
- 1 oz light muscovado sugar
- 2 tbs white wine vinegar
- 4 fl oz dry white wine
- salt and pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. If the shoulder has been rolled, remove the string, open it out and slash the skin with a sharp knife. Oil a roasting tin and lay the pork in it skin side upwards.
Peel, quarter and core the quinces, then cut each quarter into 2 or 3 segments. Cut the red onion into eigths lengthways. (Leaving some root on the onion will help to hold it together.) Surround the pork with the onion, quinces, chillies and bay leaves.
Mix together the oil, vinegar, wine, sugars, salt and pepper an dspoon it over the pork, quinces and onions. Cover with aluminium foil and roast in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the foil, baste everything with the juices and return it to the oven to cook uncovered for a further hour. By this time the pork should be very tender and the quinces, soft. Rest the pork in a warm place for about 15 minutes before serving.
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