Crispy Pork Belly

A perfect winters moist and juicy roast, simple but with a little prep, the prep being to puncture the skin of the belly multiple times, I use mums old carving fork as it is sharp and has a good handle.

Ingredients:

1 pork belly or rolled pork

Method:

After puncturing the skin multiple times, put the belly into a dish cover the skin in salt and leave uncovered in fridge overnight to allow the skin to dry out, so the next day when you roast the belly the skin will result in a tremendous crunch fest.

Day 2: Make a foil boat to snugly fit the pork belly unless of course you have a suitably sized roasting tray. Pour in a thin layer say 2mm deep of Stones Green Ginger wine…to be fair any flavour profile works it just so happened I had a bottle handy and was experimenting.

  • Remove belly from fridge and rinse the salt off, towel dry and massage the skin with a light oil to help your preferred seasoning stick. For this pork belly we seasoned the skin side with salt only as the meat side would be nestled in the Stones Green Ginger wine.
  • Into the oven at 135C for circa 2 hours or until internal temp of belly hits 75C, or you poke it with a skewer and fluid purge runs clear. You can cook at a higher temperature for a shorter period to reach the same internal temp target BUT the lower and slower allows for the fat to render, the connective tissue to breakdown, giving you more melt in your mouth taste and textural experience.
  • You can then either crank the oven up to 225C for 15-30 minutes to allow crackling to form, timing depends on how good your oven is and how high in the oven your tray is.

Or

  • You can make sure your belly is sitting mid oven and switch to grill mode. Noting grill mode is all horsepower so you will have to watch the belly like a hawk as she can go from beautiful to charcoal in a matter of a minute.

So on the basis all of the above works for you, let Porky rest for 15 minutes then serve and if subject to plant based peer pressure and a sprig of green and a sloshing of apple sauce or balsamic glaze. Enjoy!

Kia nui te kai