Roast Pork with Sage and Apple

The English Sunday roast at its most classic: a loin of pork with crackling, scented with sage rubbed into the meat, served with a sharp apple sauce and sage gravy, the old marriage of pork, sage, and apple that defines the English table

Origin: England, United Kingdom

From the journey of Sage.

Pork, sage, and apple are one of the oldest and happiest marriages in English cooking: the rich, fatty meat, the warm pungency of sage to cut it, and the sharp sweetness of apple to lift the whole. A loin of pork is scored for crackling, rubbed with sage and salt, and roasted until the skin shatters and the meat stays juicy, then served with a sage-flecked gravy and a bowl of sharp apple sauce, the cooking apple collapsing to a tart purée against the meat. It is the Sunday roast in its most traditional form, the dish that, with its sage and onion stuffing alongside, fills the English house with the smell of the weekend. The pairing is medieval in its roots, when sage and verjuice or apple were the standard accompaniments to roast pork, and it has never been bettered.

Ingredients

Pork

2 kg boneless pork loin, skin scored for crackling
3 tbsp fresh sage, chopped
1 tbsp flaky sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thickly sliced (to roast on)

Apple sauce

600 g Bramley (cooking) apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
2 tbsp sugar, to taste
1 knob butter

Gravy

250 ml cider or chicken stock, for the gravy

Method

Preheat the oven to 240°C (220°C fan / 475°F). Pat the pork skin very dry, rub it with the oil and the flaky salt, and work the chopped sage into the underside and ends of the meat (not the skin).
Sit the pork on the sliced onion in a roasting tin and roast at the high heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the skin begins to blister and crackle.
Lower the oven to 180°C (160°C fan / 350°F) and roast for a further 1 hour 15 minutes (about 35 minutes per kg), until the meat is cooked through (70°C internal) and the juices run clear.
Meanwhile, make the apple sauce: cook the chopped Bramley apples with a splash of water, the sugar, and the butter over low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until collapsed to a purée. Taste and adjust the sugar; it should stay sharp.
Rest the pork, loosely covered, for 15 to 20 minutes. Set the tin with its onions over a low heat, pour in the cider or stock, and simmer, scraping up the juices, into a light sage gravy.
Carve the pork, breaking the crackling into shards, and serve with the sage gravy, the sharp apple sauce, sage and onion stuffing, and roast potatoes.

Notes

A bone-in loin or a shoulder (slow-roasted for longer) work just as well; the sage-and-apple treatment suits any cut of pork. For perfect crackling, leave the scored skin uncovered in the fridge overnight to dry before roasting. The apple sauce should be properly sharp to cut the rich meat; resist over-sweetening it.

The Gastrographer

Name: Roast Pork with Sage and Apple
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 2 h 20 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: United Kingdom
Ingredients: 2 kg boneless pork loin, skin scored for crackling; 3 tbsp fresh sage, chopped; 1 tbsp flaky sea salt; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1 onion, thickly sliced (to roast on); 600 g Bramley (cooking) apples, peeled, cored, and chopped; 2 tbsp sugar, to taste; 1 knob butter; 250 ml cider or chicken stock, for the gravy

Mapping Culinary History

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control