twice-cooked pork belly
twice-cooked pork belly
now this recipe focuses solely on the cooking of the pork belly. it does require patience, and for the best results will need to be cooked a day in advance, but this will provide you with the ultimate crackling and the basis for many great pork belly dishes to come, whether this be a Sunday roast, ramen, bbq pork, the possibilities of pork belly are endless...
ingredients:
skin on pork belly joint between 500g -700g
1 finely sliced yellow pepper
salt & pepper
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
optional:
butternut squash puree
wilted spinach
method:
Ideally, one day ahead, preheat your oven to 140C/ 120C Fan/ gas mark 1. Alternatively, if you have a water bath to cook sous vide (as you do..) preheat to 80C.
Coat the pork belly liberally in salt & pepper.
If using the oven, wrap the pork belly into a tight parcel, using strong kitchen foil and place in a roasting tin. If cooking sous-vide, add the oil to the vacuum pouch so the pork belly does not stick.
For the oven: cook for around 4 hours, essentially steaming the pork belly in the foil parcel cooking low & slow.
For sous-vide: Place the vacuum sealed pork belly into the water bath and cook for 7 hours at 80C.
Once cooked, remove from the bag/foil, retaining all the cooking juices.
Allow to cool, then place on a tray and covering in baking parchment. Place in the fridge overnight with a weight on top, to get an even flat layer.
First of all, take the top layer of skin off the pork belly for the pressed crackling. Salt heavily and place between baking parchment and put in a hot oven, again with a weight on top at 180C /160 Fan/ gas mark 4 for 15 -20 minutes.
Score the top gently with a knife and cut the pork belly into portions as you desire.
To pan-fry, cook skin side down first in a little oil for 2 minutes until golden crisp. Fry for a minute on each side and finish off in the oven until cooked through and the top layer of fat is crispy.
Finally, season with salt & pepper.