Traditionally, a lot of people in Denmark and parts of Norway eat roast pork for their Christmas Eve dinner. The cuts of meat used are different, but the roasting method is the same, so I’ve included Danish flæskesteg and Norwegian ribbe here as one recipe.
Ingredients
- 4½ -lb (2-kg) piece of pork
- salt
- bay leaves
- whole cloves
- meat thermometer
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas 6.
- Add hot water to a roasting pan and place your pork, skin-side down, in the water. The water should be approx. 1–1.5 cm/½ –⅝ in. deep and just about cover the fatty rind.
- Place in the hot oven for about 20 minutes, then remove. Discard the water and turn the pork over – this will separate the fatty top bits and allow for easier crackling later on.
- Pat the rind dry with paper towels, then salt liberally all over, ensuring the cracks are salted too. Insert a few bay leaves and cloves in the rind cracks. Add about 475 ml/2 scant cups of water to the roasting pan, then return to the oven, reducing the temperature to 130°C (275°F) Gas 1. The pork will now need to roast for anything between 1½ and 2 hours before reaching an internal temperature of 68°C (154°F).
- Once the meat is at the correct temperature, preheat the grill/broiler and place the pork underneath. Keep an eye on it crackling burns easily so you may need to move it around under the heat until you have a crispy crackling. Use a meat thermometer to check that the temperature has risen above 72°C (162°F) in the thickest part of the meat at this stage.
- Leave to rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. Reserve the juices in the roasting pan for the gravy.
- For flæskesteg, slices the size of one crackling rind are served; for ribbe, rectangular pieces are cut at a size of around 6 x 5 cm/2½ x 2 in. It can be difficult to cut through the bones in ribbe so ask your butcher to do this for you beforehand.
- Serve flæskesteg with boiled and Browned Potatoes, Thick Pork Gravy and Red Cabbage. Serve ribbe with boiled potatoes, Thick Pork Gravy, Red Cabbage, Sour Cabbage, Norwegian Meatballs and Norwegian sausages.
- The pork also makes a great topping for open sandwiches, and is a brilliant ingredient for a potato and meat hash made from leftovers.
