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Irish roast boned shoulder of pork with rosemary and bay scented apples and spiced apple sauce

Someone carving roast pork on a set table

Irish roast boned shoulder of pork with rosemary and bay scented apples and spiced apple sauce

Name: Irish roast boned shoulder of pork with rosemary and bay scented apples and spiced apple sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h 55 min
Total time: 2 h 25 min
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Irish
Ingredients: 1.8kg boneless shoulder of pork rolled and scored; 2 onions sliced into thick rings; 3 rosemary sprigs; 4 red eating apples cored and cut into 8 wedges; 2 red onions cut into 8 wedges; 1 tbsp chopped thyme; 1 tbsp chopped rosemary; 3 bay leaves; 1 tbsp caster sugar; 30g unsalted butter diced, plus extra for the dish; 3 tbsp rapeseed oil; drizzle of honey; 3 Bramley or other cooking apples peeled and chopped into 4cm pieces; 30g caster sugar; 15g unsalted butter; ½ lemon zested; 2 cloves

Cherie Denham

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Serves 8

Easy

Prep: 30 mins

Cook: 1 hr and 55 mins

plus overnight chilling

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Try our Irish roast boned shoulder of pork with rosemary and bay scented apples and spiced apple sauce, then discover our pork hotpot, roast pork with hasselback potatoes, perfect roast pork belly and more pork recipes.

Pork and apples are a classic pairing, with the sharp acidity of apples cutting through the richness of the meat. This boneless spare rib is roasted high to get a crisp, crunchy crackling, then low and slow for soft, tender meat. The boned spare rib (which is cut from the shoulder) has layers of fat running through it, which melt during the cooking process, making the meat incredibly succulent.

Cook, preserver, baker and author Cherie Denham says: "To truly understand Irish food you need to cook in simplicity, shaped by the land and sea, and passed down through generations. It’s not about fancy techniques or elaborate dishes, it’s about honest, comforting, down-to-earth food made with care and shared with others.

"I was brought up on a farm, nestled in County Tyrone in rural N Ireland. My Mummy, Aunties and Grannies cooked with what they had to hand: potatoes pulled from the garden, wild berries gathered from the hedgerows, soda bread fresh from the oven and homemade butter. The press was stocked with homemade jellies and jams made from crab apples and rosehips, damsons, blackberries and strawberries.

"The flavours are clean and comforting, and the ingredients aren’t trendy, they’re traditional. Creamy dairy from grass-fed cows, tender lamb, wild Atlantic seafood and earthy root veg. I often went to the local market with mummy on a Wednesday after school if we ran out of vegetables. She’d buy a huge sack of potatoes, a bag of carrots and a few swedes or turnips, as they were called, still all with mud on them. Apples and rhubarb were very popular, and used predominantly to make tarts. Bramley apples have a Protected Geographical Indication in County Armagh, which is affectionately known as The Orchard County.

"To cook here is to respect the seasons and surroundings – it’s warming the teapot before pouring the first cup, baking something sweet and welcoming for when guests are due, and always sending them home with a loaf of fresh bread, jar of jam or tin of biscuits. It’s food that brings people together, whether it’s a Sunday dinner, bowl of stew at the kitchen table or cup of tea and soda bread in your hand. Eating and drinking in Ireland is welcoming, unpretentious and full of warmth – whether it’s a pint of Guinness in the local pub or oysters by the sea, the experience is always the same, rooted in place, people and tradition."

Recipes extracted from The Irish Kitchen by Cherie Denham (£30, Montgomery Press). Photographs: Andrew Montgomery. Recipes are sent by the publisher and not retested by us.