Pork recipe: Loin and pudding of pork, bacon potatoes, morel sauce and walnut crackling

Loin and pudding of pork, bacon potatoes, morel sauce and walnut crackling

Serves 4

Ingredients​

• Loin of pork
• 4x150g pork tenderloins
• 100g butter
• Bacon potatoes
• 6 medium to large waxy potatoes
• 12 slices of dry cured, thinly sliced streaky bacon
• 1 litre duck or goose fat
• Pudding of pork pastry
• 150g self-raising flour
• 100g suet
• 4-5 tablespoons water
• 4-5 tablespoons rendered pork fat
• 1 pinch salt

Filling

• 250g small dice of pork shoulder
• 50g coarse minced belly
• 75g small diced pork fat
• 100ml reduced pork stock
• 1 fresh bay leaf, finely diced
• 1 pinch ground white pepper
• 1 pinch smoked sea salt
• 2 shallots, finely diced
• 1 small carrot, finely diced
• 50ml white port
• 1 egg, beaten
• 20g butter
• Oil
• Walnut crackling
• 100g fondant
• 66g glucose
• 83g ground walnuts

Morel sauce

• 20 dried morels, re-hydrated in 50ml Madeira and 50ml pork stock for 3 hours, then removed, strained and liquid reserved
• 120ml double cream, semi-whipped and chilled
• 300ml ice-filtered dark pork stock
• 0.8g xantana

Garnish

• 12 baby beetroot, cooked and skinned
• 200g kale, rinsed, blanched and refreshed
• 40g butter

Method​

For the puddings

Line 4x75ml moulds with rendered pork fat, chill, repeat and dust with plain flour. Set aside. Make the pastry by mixing together the flour, salt and suet. Stir in enough water to make a firm but not sticky dough. Lightly flour, wrap in cling film and rest.

For the filling, melt the butter in a pan, add the carrot, shallot and diced pork fat and cook over medium heat for 7-9 minutes. In a hot pan with a little oil, seal the diced pork shoulder, colouring all over. Drain in a sieve over a bowl. Repeat the process with the pork belly. Once the meat has drained, return the juices to the pan with the white port to deglaze and reduce almost to glace.

In a mixing bowl, bring all the filling ingredients together, mix well and set aside. On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to ½cm thick. Cut out 4 discs to line the moulds and 4 lids to seal. Line the moulds with the pastry, leaving a little pastry overhanging the edges, and divide the filling mixture between moulds (you may have a little over). Brush the edges with beaten egg, add the pastry lid, seal and trim any excess. Cover the mould with a square of buttered greaseproof paper. Place in a bain-marie, cover with tin foil and cook at 160°C for 50-60 minutes. (Alternatively wrap the mould in cling film and steam for 70 minutes.)

For the bacon potatoes

Peel the potatoes. Trim off uneven sides using a 2.5cm diameter cutter or ring and cut out 12 cylinders of potatoes. Trim to neaten the edges, wash and pat dry. Place the potatoes in an oven tray with just room to slightly space out, and add duck or goose fat to cover. Cook at 140°C until cooked through (use a small knife to check). Allow to cool slightly in the fat, then remove and chill. Lay out the bacon and run the back of a chopping knife along each rasher to stretch and flatten it slightly. Wrap a rasher around each potato, and reserve until needed.

For the walnut crackling

Heat the glucose and fondant to 160°C. Add the walnuts and mix well, then pour the mixture onto a lightly oiled tray. Roll out between two lightly oiled sheets of silicone paper to about 3mm, then either cut into thin strips or curved triangles. Use on the day made or store in an airtight container with a tablespoon of silica gel wrapped in muslin cloth.

To serve

Heat the butter in a medium frying pan until foaming. Season the pork, place

in the pan and seal on all sides. Place the pan in the oven at 190°C for approximately 9 minutes. Un-mould the puddings and keep warm or, if made well in advance, return to the oven to heat through. Return the potatoes to the oven.

Reduce the morel liquor by half. Bring the pork stock up to about 80°C, whisk in the Xantana until dissolved, and keep warm. Re-heat the kale in butter and chopped sage. Season. Dip the beetroot in water to re-heat. Heat the morels in some butter. Take the pork loin from the oven and rest.

Dress the plates with kale, potatoes, beetroot and the puddings. Whisk the cream into the reduced morel liquor, spoon onto plates and place the morels onto the sauce. Cut each pork loin into 3 slices and dress onto the kale. Spoon over the pork stock and garnish with the crackling.