How To Make Pork And Cranberry Pot Roast

As soon as fresh cranberries appear in the shops in December I buy them two or three bags at a time and use some/freeze some until they disappear straight after Christmas, so the cranberries in this recipe will have already been stewed and sweetened into a kind of purée. You can either make the cranberry purée first or use them straight from the packet, adding a couple of extra tablespoons of sugar (and maybe a spoonful of honey or golden syrup) to the sauce with the tomatoes at Stage 5.

1. Step 1:

   Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 2–3 (160–170°C); scrape the carrots and chop into large chunks, peel the baby onions and if they’re not quite small enough, cut them in half.

2. Step 2:

   Warm some oil in a large pan and fry the carrots, onions and garlic for a few minutes over a very high heat until the onions are slightly softer and just beginning to brown.

3. Step 3:

   Transfer the vegetables to a very large casserole dish with a slotted spoon then add a little more oil to the pan and stir in the sugar.

4. Step 4:

   Put the pork shoulder into the pan and seal the meat using a large spoon and fork to turn the joint over so it browns quickly on all sides, then put the pork in the casserole dish with the vegetables.

5. Step 5:

   Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and cranberries (with extra sugar if necessary) to the pan, stirring well to incorporate any residue from the meat into the sauce.

6. Step 6:

   Pour the sauce over and around the meat and vegetables in the casserole dish, cover with a lid and cook in the middle of the oven for a minimum 2½–3 hours until the meat is completely tender.

7. Some fruits work well in pot roasts – dried or tinned apricots and prunes, apples, or fruit purées (see Pork and Cranberry Pot Roast above) – because they add flavour and the acid in the fruit helps to tenderize the meat.