Caramel Pork Belly

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5kg Pork Belly (Serves 6 People)
• Salt and Pepper
• Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cups of Dark Brown sugar
• 1/3 Cups of Red Wine Vinegar
• 3 Star Anise
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 1 Cup of Chicken Stock
• 1 Orange (Juice only!)​

METHOD

1. Ask your butcher to score the skin of the pork belly in a criss-cross pattern with a sharp knife. The trick is to get the scoring really fine and close together.

2. Rub the sea salt into the pork skin and set aside for 30 minutes. *
3. Preheat the oven to 220C.

4. Wipe the salt off the pork skin with kitchen paper and dry well.

5. Drizzle a large roasting tin with olive oil. Put the pork belly in the tin skin-side down, drizzle with a little more oil and season with salt and pepper.
6. Roast for 30 minutes.

7. Reduce temperature to 190C and roast for another 1 1/2 hours (or longer I cook until it is crispy). Carefully turn the pork over and roast for another 20 minutes, or until the skin is crisp.
8. Remove the pork from the oven. Place the pork on a warm serving platter, cover loosely with foil and set aside to rest for at least 15 minutes.

9. Slice the pork and drizzle with the caramel vinegar (recipe opposite).

Caramel vinegar
1. Put the sugar, vinegar, star anise and cinnamon in a small saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.

2. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, or until syrupy.
3. Stir in the chicken stock and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until slightly reduced.

4. Add the orange juice and peel, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until thick and syrupy. Season to taste. Excellent with roasted sweet potatoes,  and creamed cauliflower (sweat the florets from half a cauliflower in 100g butter and 2 tablespoons olive oil, with lid on, until almost tender – don’t let them colour, add 200ml pure cream and cook over low heat another 10 minutes.  Transfer to a blender and blend until very smooth – season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper). My favourite is to serve it with Asian Slaw and Roasted Sweet potatoes or ancient grain salad.  See both these recipes in the Salad Section.