Ginger beer and orange slow roast pork

I devised this recipe whilst nursing a pretty horrendous hangover with a ginger beer in hand. Slow cooked pork and ginger beer, why the hell not?

There are lots of recipes for pork cooked in coca cola so I swapped it for ginger beer and some fresh orange and bay leaves. The sugar in the ginger beer slightly catches the skin to give a caramelised edge and the ginger, bay and orange create an aromatic cooking liquor for the meat.

I mixed the meat juices with some apple sauce and added lots of chilli to serve.

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Serves 6

For the Pork:

• 2kg half a shoulder of pork from the neck end (boneless)

• 2 cans ginger beer (330ml)

• 5 bay leaves

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 large orange

• 2 cloves minced garlic

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3/ 325°F

• Place the pork in a large roasting dish with a little water on the bottom

• Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl and pour over the top of the pork

• Cover with tin foil and leave in oven for 4 hours

• Remove from oven and leave to sit for a good half an hour under the foil

• Shred with two large forks pulling the meat apart from each other, pour into dish and decorate with slices of orange

• Spare some of the cooking juice to mix with apple sauce but keep the rest with the shredded meat to keep it juicy and tender