Caporegime
Hi all
As per http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13990088&postcount=10, I made a tender but crispy pork belly joint on Saturday. It's a great recipe as the pork tastes incredible but is very cheap, £3.50 for this joint which will just about feed four people (can't remember the weight of it), and you can probably get it even cheaper.
Here's how to do it.
Untie the joint and chuck the strings. Most belly joints come tied in a cylinder shape, but I cook this one flat as the crackling is far better. Score the skin two ways to create a criss-cross pattern. You can do this after drying the skin in the fridge but it's easier when the skin is moist. Don't go down to the flesh as it will dry it when it cooks. The skin protects the flesh from direct heat in the oven
Leave the pork with the skin exposed in the fridge for at least 48 hours and preferably for 4 days to dry the skin out. Use layering tissue to cover the flesh to protect it from drying out
Coarsely grind a tablespoon of rock or sea salt in a pestle and mortar
And liberally cover the skin, rubbing the salt into the cracks (snigger)
Crush some black pepper in the mortar and season the underside with salt, pepper, garlic, and chopped rosemary (or stab bits of rosemary into the flesh)
Press some kitchen foil firmly onto the meat side. This compresses the seasoning and holds the herbs in place whilst cooking
Then flip it over to create the foil nest. This protects the meat and also allows the meat to cook in its own juices. It's like a self-baster. Over the course of the 4 hour cooking time, this creates a lovely crust on the bottom of the meat
Drizzle with a little olive oil
Wack it in the preheated oven, fan oven temps: 125 degrees C for 3.5 hours, then 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes to crisp up the crackling (hopefully your oven is cleaner than ours!)
It's not necessary if you've done it right, but if the crackling needs a little help, cut the crackling layer off and put it under a medium grill for ten minutes while the pork is resting in the cooling oven
2 hrs in
Guinea pig not loving the cooking of her namesake
4 hours in, ready to rest for 20 minutes
The underside, almost as nice as the crackling
Sliced, pork meat is still perfectly tender
...and served with jersey royal potatoes tossed in parsley and butter, broccoli, and a crème fraîche and white wine sauce
My main advice if you try this is - don't take shortcuts, as the crackling will suffer! It might also be worth rotating the roasting tray every hour if you've got an old / bad oven, because as you can see, one side of my crackling has crisped up better than the other.
Cheers
As per http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13990088&postcount=10, I made a tender but crispy pork belly joint on Saturday. It's a great recipe as the pork tastes incredible but is very cheap, £3.50 for this joint which will just about feed four people (can't remember the weight of it), and you can probably get it even cheaper.
Here's how to do it.
Untie the joint and chuck the strings. Most belly joints come tied in a cylinder shape, but I cook this one flat as the crackling is far better. Score the skin two ways to create a criss-cross pattern. You can do this after drying the skin in the fridge but it's easier when the skin is moist. Don't go down to the flesh as it will dry it when it cooks. The skin protects the flesh from direct heat in the oven
Leave the pork with the skin exposed in the fridge for at least 48 hours and preferably for 4 days to dry the skin out. Use layering tissue to cover the flesh to protect it from drying out
Coarsely grind a tablespoon of rock or sea salt in a pestle and mortar
And liberally cover the skin, rubbing the salt into the cracks (snigger)
Crush some black pepper in the mortar and season the underside with salt, pepper, garlic, and chopped rosemary (or stab bits of rosemary into the flesh)
Press some kitchen foil firmly onto the meat side. This compresses the seasoning and holds the herbs in place whilst cooking
Then flip it over to create the foil nest. This protects the meat and also allows the meat to cook in its own juices. It's like a self-baster. Over the course of the 4 hour cooking time, this creates a lovely crust on the bottom of the meat
Drizzle with a little olive oil
Wack it in the preheated oven, fan oven temps: 125 degrees C for 3.5 hours, then 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes to crisp up the crackling (hopefully your oven is cleaner than ours!)
It's not necessary if you've done it right, but if the crackling needs a little help, cut the crackling layer off and put it under a medium grill for ten minutes while the pork is resting in the cooling oven
2 hrs in
Guinea pig not loving the cooking of her namesake
4 hours in, ready to rest for 20 minutes
The underside, almost as nice as the crackling
Sliced, pork meat is still perfectly tender
...and served with jersey royal potatoes tossed in parsley and butter, broccoli, and a crème fraîche and white wine sauce
My main advice if you try this is - don't take shortcuts, as the crackling will suffer! It might also be worth rotating the roasting tray every hour if you've got an old / bad oven, because as you can see, one side of my crackling has crisped up better than the other.
Cheers
^^ Belly pork is probably my favorite cut of pork 
