Embrace the Dark Side

As cooking programs dominate the TV listings these days, more and more of us are finding our way into the kitchen. Whether you are looking to cook up some home comforts, chef inspired gourmet or bake your own loaf there seems to be something for everyone. In this recipe I hope to give you a good, 'manly' recipe cooking with a fantastic ingredient, beer.

Bristol Beer Week has just come to a close and numerous breweries and pubs have been showing off their wares across the city. For this dish I have gone with Bath Ales 'Dark Side', a punchy, dark and stormy number from one of my favourite local breweries. Based on the outskirts of the city, in Warmley, these guys put out some great beers from their flagship brand 'Gem' to their 'Beerd' branded craft ale products such as 'Razor'.

For this dish you need:

A boned out pork leg joint
A whole 500ml bottle of 'Dark Side' stout
300ml of pressed apple juice
3 tbsp of mustard
3 tbsp of honey
3 tbsp of black treacle
3 tbsp of golden syrup
3 tbsp of dark brown sugar
3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of tomato puree
1 tbsp of cayenne pepper

The method is really simple:

1 - Pour the stout and the juice into a pan and bring to the boil

2 - Whisk in the other ingredients starting with the honey, treacle and syrup to make sure they have fully melted into the liquid. follow these with mustard, sugar, vinegar, tomato puree and finally the cayenne pepper.

3 - Place the leg into a deep, ovenproof dish and pour over the liquid mixture.

4 - Place into a pre-heated oven at around 130 degrees for 4-5 hours.

5 - Remove the pork and pour half of the liquid into a pan. Put the pork back into the pot with the remaining liquid, baste the meat well and place back in the oven with the lid off for another 20 minutes.

6 - Heat the sauce in a pan on the hob to reduce by about half, this will create a lovely BBQ sauce for the pork similar in texture to that well known Jamaican variety from Dragons Den.

7 - When the sauce is reduced remove the meat from the oven and with a couple of forks (no knives) shred the meat into strands of deliciously flavoured, melt in the mouth goodness.

8 - Serve the pork in the middle of the table with white buns, mayo/coleslaw and your sticky BBQ sauce.

It is as simple as that and trust me it tastes amazing. Why not try it this weekend. Get the pork in the oven, get yourself down the pub for a few hours and you will have a delicious pulled pork dinner waiting to be served up when you get home.