Heston's How to Cook Roast Pork

The way I like to prepare a pork joint is to cover it in salt and chopped thyme, stud it with blanched garlic cloves and rolled sage leaves, then cover the joint in clingfilm and leave overnight in the fridge. To blanch the garlic cloves just boil them briefly, then refresh them in cold water.

And to release the oils and bring out the flavour of the sage leaves, roll them between your finger and thumb before adding to the joint. When ready to cook, rinse the salt off the pork, pat it dry, then brown the pork on both sides in some oil.

Cover the joint in clingfilm and leave overnight in the fridge.

Remove the pork and brown an onion and carrot in a little oil in a casserole dish. Add in some more garlic and thyme, put the pork back in, cover the dish and cook to your liking. Cooking the pork in this way will retain all the moisture.

For a really tender result make sure not to over-cook the pork – using a meat thermometer is a great way to check this. After cooking, rest the pork. Meanwhile, you could make some crackling by removing the skin and putting this back in the oven.

Make a gravy by adding chicken stock to the leftovers in the dish, then reducing and straining.

To serve, cut the slices thickly and make a gravy by adding chicken stock to the leftovers in the dish, then reducing and straining.