Slow Cooked Crispy Pork Belly

This is one which is sure to impress. Basically its just one way to smash out a pork belly. You can serve it with whatever you want. It absolutely slaps with roast potatoes but mash would also be great. Cheesy leeks if you’re feeling saucy. You will have crispy crunchy crackling and you will have soft fatty meat. You will also have a sort of sexual reaction to it but that’s not my fault that’s just you being weird about food and I’m not sorry.

2-3 hours

Ingredients

FOR THE PORK
A fat sheet/slab of pork belly from the butchers (save the ribs if they keep them in, they’re tasty)
Salt
2 bits of Fennell
3/4 onions, white or red or a MIX
5 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Fennel seeds 2 tablespoons
2/3 bits of star anise
3 sprigs of thyme
Half a bottle of white wine
Some chicken stock

FOR THE SAUCE
Mustard 2 tablespoons
Gravy granules 2 tablespoons

Ingredients

Instructions

Get your massive slab of pork belly and a super sharp knife. Cut lines diagonally across the skin then turn 90 degrees and do that again so you’ve got little diamonds cut in. Sprinkle over a generous amount of salt making sure to get some of the salt in the gaps where you’ve sliced.
Roughly chop up your fennel and your onions and smash up your garlic, you don’t have to peel the skin off the garlic but I would get rid of the janky onion skin.
Get a large oven tray out and stick it on your hob. Heat up some olive oil then add all of your veggies and garlic. Cook these off a little bit. Add half your fennel seeds and your star anise to cook for a little while. Get in your thyme sprigs also. Chuck the pork in skin side down to crisp up a little for about 5 minutes.
Flip the pork and add the rest of the fennel seeds so that some get in the gaps in the skin. Add your white wine and cook that off for a little while then top up with chicken stock to the line just below the skin of the pork. The skin not being wet with stock and wine helps it crisp up and the meat being covered keeps it nice and moist.
Get that into the oven for 2 and a half hours on 180 degrees.
The pork will be done and will need to rest under some tin foil but to make the sauce you sieve the remaining juices (or not if you want it a rustic sauce) and then stir in your mustard and gravy granules over a low heat.
Serve in slices with sauce and whichever sides tickle your fancy. Enjoy. I’ve got a wet mouth from writing this recipe.