Episode #4:
Whole Salt Baked Pork Leg

Sam and James undertake an epic culinary challenge – packing a 7kg pork leg in 3kg of coarse salt – as they prepare for the first meal with friends since the world went in to lockdown. 

Ingredients

• One whole pork hind leg about 7kg. Trotter removed.
• Coarse salt 3kg (or more as necessary).

Method

• Preheat oven to 250c.
• Empty the salt in to a large bowl or basin. Add water to the salt and slosh around until it has the consistency of damp snow.
• In a large high rimmed roasting tin big enough to hold your pork leg, pour an inch layer bed of the damp salt. If you don’t have a high rimmed roasting tin, a regular roasting tin will do, but you may need to use more salt to support the salt wall at the sides.
• Lay the leg on the salt bed, and start packing the remaining salt around the meat – as if you were burying someone in sand at the beach – ensuring that it is covered by at least an inch on all sides. Make sure there are no gaps.
• Put the salt covered leg in the oven for about four hours, until the internal temperature reads 60c.
• Allow the leg to rest for 20 minutes after removing from the oven. Using a hammer or a rolling pin, lightly tap the salt crust until it cracks. The salt should pull away from the meat in large chunks. Brush away any stray grains.
• Carve and serve in rolls with a zingy salsa or chimichurri.

• TIP: You can bulk out the salt around the edges of the meat using potatoes, sweet potatoes, whole onions – any veg that can be slow cooked will work and make for a delicious side dish.