BlainSA Get the butcher to score it properly for me. I’ve got a Stanley knife I can use at home, but my butcher’s awesome / does it better than me.
I always buy it a good coupla days in advance of cooking it as I want to dry the skin out as much as I possibly can.
Between 24 and 48 hours before cooking it, I pour boiling water over the skin, shrinking the skin, and helping it crisp when it cooks. Whack it in the fridge, but make sure it’s uncovered - that’ll make sure the skin is as dry as possible when you cook it.
About an hour before cooking, I season it. Nothing but salt on the skin, and a purée of oil, garlic and fresh oregano on the meat - but you can add what you like here; sage is good, rosemary works, thyme is nice etc etc. Spices if that’s your thing… Plenty of seasoning here in that purée as well, as it’s the only salt the the meat will get. (Unless you brine it for 24 hours. I don’t, because it’s a ballache, but you might wanna give it a whirl e.g. https://blog.britishcornershop.co.uk/food/recipes/how-to-brine-and-roast-pork-belly/)
Whack the oven to the very hottest setting you have. When you’re ready to cook, put the pork in and immediately turn down the oven to around 150-160C. I roast it on a rack so that the convection heat goes all the way around it. Not 100% necessary though.
After an hour, I’ll pour in 500ml of dry cider, but leave it uncovered. If you cover it with foil, the skin won’t crisp, and even uncovered, you get enough of the apple flavour running through the pork. If all of the cider evaporates, whack in a bit more, or even just a little water. You want to make sure the pork cooking juices don’t burn on your roasting tin.
Cook it low and slow for around 3 hours. Most people who say they don’t like pork belly will say it’s because it’s too fatty. 4 hours of slow cooking will render the fat beautifully, so it’s liquid in the meat. Cook too quickly/for too short a time, and there’ll be seams of fat running through the belly.
When you think it’s hit the right point of juicy/unctuous, if the crackling isn’t quite there yet, whack the heat up to max again, and let cook for c. 10 mins. Take out, and rest for a minimum of 30 minutes. It’ll hold its temperature longer if you wanna cook some roast potatoes at a higher temp in the same oven - but I tend to serve it with Boulangere potatoes, as they like the lower heat needed for the belly.
The combo of pork cooking juices and dry cider makes for a fucking magnificent gravy. Flour if that’s your thing (it’s not mine). Then another 300ml of dry cider. Cook that down, then add about 500ml stock. Getting good pork stock is nigh on impossible, so I use chicken so it’s not too strong a flavour. Avoid cubes/gels if you can, as the pork’s already quite salty, and it could ruin your gravy. One of those pots of ‘fresh’ chicken stock in the supermarket is your friend. Either that or get yourself a decent ‘glace’ product. I use a bunch of them, and they’re brilliant. Fraction of the salt of supermarket gels/cubes
https://www.essentialcuisine.com/products/range/chicken-glace/
Serve the motherfucker, and hope someone else is doing the washing-up 👍️
