Overnight pulled pork

The problem about Father's Day being in high summer is that you don't necessarily want to be stuck in the kitchen making a slap-up meal. So camp out and make these delicious pulled pork rolls instead

The recipe comes from Genevieve Taylor's inspiring new book How to Eat Outside which gives year-round suggestions from summer picnics to bonfire night.

Genevieve writes: "I’ve often noticed that when I hold my hand over the campfire in the morning it’s still lovely and toasty (providing it hasn’t chucked it down!), so I wanted to find a recipe that would harness all the lovely gentle heat the fire gives off as it cools. This pulled pork is absolutely ideal as it cooks to perfection in the dying embers overnight. Stuff the tender tasty meat into soft baps for the most perfect Sunday brunch ever. After a long night around the campfire catching up with friends, this is just the ticket to revive you the morning after.

SERVES 6–8

5 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tbsp soft brown sugar

4 tsp English or Dijon mustard

1 tbsp fennel seeds, roughly ground

2 tsp smoked paprika

2kg (prepared weight) pork shoulder, boned and rolled

3 large onions, thickly sliced

3 large carrots, roughly chopped

1 x 500ml bottle cider (doesn’t need to be special; any type will do)

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

6–8 soft white baps, to serve

Assuming you have a cool box to keep the meat cold for a couple of days, the ideal low-fuss way is to marinate the meat at home and shove it in a ziplock food bag, so all you then have to do at the campsite is cook it.

In a small bowl, mix together the tomato ketchup, sugar, mustard, fennel seeds and smoked paprika. Rub this all over the pork, then seal it in a ziplock food bag before adding it to your cool box.

When you are ready to cook, line a Dutch oven with a triple layer of foil (to help make washing-up easier!) and scatter in the onions and carrots. Place the pork on top, season generously with salt and black pepper, then pour in the cider. Seal completely with a tight-fitting lid (add a layer of foil if your lid is a bit loose).

Place the Dutch oven directly on the dying embers of your fire, using a shovel to push the coals around the oven a little. Leave to cook overnight, about 12 hours is perfect (depending on the heat left in the fire). Have a peek inside the pot first thing in the morning to see how it’s doing. If it’s been a particularly cold or damp night, you may want to get the fire going again slowly to carry on the cooking process until brunch time. Like all fire cooking it’s a bit suck-it-and-see, and with this dish the cooler the embers are, the better – you don’t want the embers to be too hot and cook the pork too quickly.

To serve, tease the meat apart with two forks, pulling it off in pieces, and shove it into the baps. There may or may not be gravy to spoon on as well (depending on the heat of your fire and how much evaporation has occurred).

What to drink: since you're using cider in the dish that's what I'd drink with it too - or, if you're having it for lunch and feel that's a little early, apple juice would also be delicious.

Extracted from How to Cook Outside: fabulous al fresco food for BBQs, bonfires, camping and more by Genevieve Taylor, published by Bantam Press at £17.99. Photographs by Jason Ingram.

Can Can chicken

Continuing with our series of South African Braai recipes to celebrate the World Cup, here’s winemaker Paul Cluver’s version of beer-can chicken made with apple juice rather than beer.

This is a fantastic way of cooking chicken for any of you who haven’t tried it. You need a barbecue with a domed lid like a Weber.

Serves 4–6 (You can double up the recipe for two chickens)

One large free-range chicken, giblets removed

For the marinade
100g butter
125ml red wine vinegar
100ml olive oil
Handful of Italian flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
3–5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
Freshly ground salt and black pepper
1 can Appletise (or any unsweetened sparkling apple juice or good cider)

Melt the butter, then add all the other ingredients except for the Appletise. Marinate the chicken in a large bowl – leave it for at least an hour. This will also give you time to prepare the barbecue. You need to place the charcoal on the sides and make sure you have a drip tray in the middle. Open the can of Appletise, pour off half the contents, put the chicken over it and place it in the middle of the barbecue. It takes about an hour to cook.

You can obviously cook this on a gas barbecue too FB

Wine note: Paul recommends the Paul Cluver Pinot Noir with the chicken but you could also drink a Chardonnay - or, obviously, apple juice or cider if you don’t want to drink wine.

This recipe comes from Cape Wine Braai Masters published by Wines of South Africa