The best roast pork & apple sauce

About 48 hours before you want to serve the pork, prepare the skin. Pull the stretchy butcher’s string off and set aside. Using a toothpick or sharp skewer, pierce small holes all over the skin of the pork, then use a clean craft knife or penknife (or sharp small kitchen knife) to score it. Cut through the rind and fat, but don’t go as far as the meat. Make incisions roughly 1cm apart across the whole rind. Put the string back on.

Using kitchen paper, dry the crackling thoroughly, then sprinkle with the table salt and rub into the skin. Move to a large, lidded container that gives the joint plenty of room, and leave for 48 hours. The salt will draw any liquid out of the pork skin as the meat rests.

Preheat the oven to 240ºC (or as hot as it will go) and remove the pork from the fridge. Brush off and discard the table salt (don’t worry about any that has fallen into the score marks) and use a paper towel to dry the skin again.

Using your fingers, massage the olive oil over the dry rind and flesh of the pork, then season with the sea salt flakes and black pepper. Place into a roasting tin, ideally with a wire rack inside so the fat can drip away. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes – do this immediately after salting the pork or you risk the skin becoming wet.

To make the apple sauce, put the apples, butter, sugar and cider vinegar into a saucepan and place over a medium heat. Simmer for 8-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the apples have broken down and the sauce is thick and glossy. Stir through the Calvados (if using), then season to taste. Set aside to serve with the pork, or allow to cool, transfer to a lidded container and chill for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.

Once the pork has cooked for 30 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 200ºC, gas mark 6 and roast for 50 minutes more (or calculate the cooking time using 25 minutes per 500g if your joint is a different size.) Using a temperature probe, check the internal temperature of the thickest part of the meat – it needs to register 75ºC, and the pork should be thoroughly cooked with no pink meat and juices that run clear

Cover the pork loosely in foil, wrapping around the edges, but not covering the crackling. Allow to rest for 20 minutes while you prepare the accompaniments, then snip away the strings, lift off the crackling and slice the meat thinly using a sharp knife. Slice or snap the crackling into pieces, then serve.