12 hour roast pork

Don't be put off by the title, this truly is the best roast pork you will ever taste. I made this a week ago during a cold Melbourne holiday. Cold and wintery outside, warm fireplace inside and the smell of pork cooking for 12 hours made everyone anticipate dinner that little bit more.

2.5-3kg boned pork shoulder - may have to order or ask butcher
2 tsp sea salt
4 garlic cloves, chopped roughly
1 tsp dried chilli flakes (medium heat)
1 tsp brown sugar
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 olive oil
2 granny smith apples, unpeeled, halved and sliced 1cm thick (circle shaped)
2 leeks, outer leaves removed, well washed, 1cm thick slices (pale part only)
2 cups "Appletise" or apple cider

Preheat oven to 220C fan forced.

When buying meat from butcher, either ask them to remove crackling fat from top of pork or you can do it yourself before cooking. Keep the fat and bring it home!
Combine sea salt, garlic, chilli, sugar, sherry and oil and pound in a mortar and pestle (or place in a zip lock bag and pound with something heavy). Rub a little mixture on the scored pork fat and set aside. Rub the rest of the mixture on the pork meat, which should be unrolled and placed as flat as possible in a large baking tray. Roast uncovered for 20 mins at 220C. Arrange apples and leeks around and over meat and add all the cider to the pan. Reduce the oven to 100C. Cover the baking tray with a lid (this is essential) and return to the oven for 11 hrs. Around the 6 hr mark pour some of the pan liquid over the whole roast and return to the oven with lid on.

Half an hour before serving check pork and apples aren't dry. Pour some of the liquid from bottom of pan over the whole roast and set aside with the lid still on. The meat will be very tender and falling apart.

Turn oven right up to 240C and put the pork fat in. (on a baking tray sitting on a cooling rack so the heat gets under it too). Cook crackling for 30 mins, checking every 10 mins so it doesn't burn. The crispiest crackling is one that has been scored all over about 1/2 centimetre apart.

Loosely break apart pork meat and serve on a platter with the remaining juices poured over the top. Serve with roast or mashed potato with a little sage.