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Don Jose's Roasted Pork Leg
My father-in-law taught me this recipe, which is now my holiday favorite.
Tools:
Ingredients:
- Fresh Pork Leg (not ham)
- approx 6 tbsp brown sugar
- approx 1 dozen soft prunes
- 1 small box of raisins
- approx 3 lbs of potatoes
- 1 lb of carrots
- 2 medium onions
- 2-3 medium cloves (pieces) garlic
- 4 lengths of celery
- salt/pepper to taste
- Can of Coke (the secret ingredient)
- Deep roasting pan
- Heavy Duty aluminum foil
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Around the holidays most grocery stores and Costco will fresh pork legs. If not available, preorder from your grocery store or butcher.
Not that this is not a ham, you want the entire leg of a pig including the bone.
Consult with grocer/butcher as to oven temperature and cooking times
based on the weight of the fresh pork leg.
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
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Remove skin and some of the fat, depending on how much fat you like.
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Clean 4 lengths of celery, leaving the leaves on (if it has them),
and place at the bottom of a deep roasting pan.
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Place fresh pork leg on top of celery in roasting pan. Stick the tip of a sharp knife into
the leg, making as many deep slits all over the leg as possible.
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Salt and pepper the leg to taste. I use very little or no pepper.
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Take 2-3 medium cloves of garlic, clean them and slice into slivers.
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Take soft prunes and cut them up into pieces with kitchen shears, or
a knife. I find kitchen shears to be easier as the prunes are slippery.
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Place the garlic slivers, pieces of prunes, and raisins into each of the
slits throughout the leg. You can put combinations of the above into the
very deep slits as you wish.
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Clean potatos,onions, and carrots and cut them up as desire. Place them around the pork leg.
Salt/pepper as desired. I use as many potatos and carrots as will fit comfortably
in the pan.
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Pour a can of Coke over the pork leg and the vegetables in the pan.
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Sprinkle a layer of brown sugar over the visible portions of the pork leg,
using your hand to press in the sugar in the areas that are harder to reach.
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Cover lightly with heavy duty aluminum foil, so as not to burn.
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Every 45 minutes, remove foil and baste leg with juices/Coke from the pan.
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Half-way through cooking, remove from oven, turn leg (and vegetables if you wish),
sprinkle lightly with brown sugar, replace foil, and put back into oven.
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Remove foil the last 45 minutes of cooking.
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Cook until done, but don't overcook as this will dry the meat.
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Remove celery, as it was put in to flavor the meat/juices.
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Slice meat and serve with potatos, carrots, and gravy from the pan.
You will have a lot of rich, sweet, flavorful gravy to enjoy with your meal.
You are free to distribute this recipe for non-commercial purposes.
Comments and questions are always welcome.
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