Zesty Pork Belly

INGREDIENTS

1Kg Pork Belly (ask the butcher to

score the skin)

4 tbsp Olive Oil

1 tsp of each

  • Coriander

  • Garlic Powder

  • Ground Ginger

  • Paprika

  • Cumin

  • Turmeric

  • Cinnamon

Apple Juice

2 Oranges - Juice and Zest

EQUIPMENT

Chopping board

Sharp Knife

Roasting tin

METHOD

1. The night before unwrap the pork belly and pat the skin dry with kitchen paper and leave uncovered in the fridge. This will dry the skin and make it crisp up when you cook it.

2. Preheat the oven to 150 degrees C (130 for a fan oven)

3. In a bowl, mix the spices.

4. Take the pork belly out of the fridge and pat the skin dry again with kitchen paper. Now rub the spices into the skin making sure that you work them into all the scores.

5. In a just mix the apple juice and orange juice and zest.

6. Place the pork on the bottom of a roasting tin and carefully pour the apple and orange juice mix around the pork so that it comes up to about half way to the top of the meat. It is really important not to pour the juice over the pork, the top has to stay dry if it is to crackle.

7. Put the pork uncovered in the oven and cook for 5 hours (Yes 5!!! hours). Every now and then check that it hasn't gone dry. If it has, add water to the tin. Whatever you do, don't baste the meat!

8. After 5 hours, whack up the temperature to 220 degrees C and roast for 30 minutes. You will now see that the skin is crackling and crispy.

9. Once your skin is crispy, take out of the oven, place on a chopping board and cover with foil for it to rest for about 10 mins.

In our opinion, there is nothing better than a slow cooked Pork Belly with crispy crackling. This recipe adds a Middle Eastern flavour to it, which combined with the Orange and Apples, makes it perfect to relive the flavours from our recent trip to Morocco.

This is sooo simple, but it does take time to cook. Cook it low and slow to make sure the meat is meltingly tender.

Serving

1. Using a very sharp knife, carve the pork into stripes (or chunks). You will need to crack through the crackling!

2. Serve with roast potatoes and a rice salad.