Soft, creamy pork under a blanket of crackling served with a rich, fruity sauce: this little piggy is destined to be a big hit on your festive menus this year. Leftovers? Lucky you! Serve room-temperature pork, crackling and sauce in brioche buns – and if you’ve got any sage and onion stuffing leftover from another roast, stuff that in the bun too!
Ingredients (serves 6-8)
3kg boneless, high-welfare pork belly (preferably organic), skin on
½ a nutmeg
100g rock salt
1 small bunch of fresh thyme spears
6 tbsp demerara sugar
2 pears, peeled and sliced
2 onions, peeled and sliced
200ml chicken stock
Method
Using a very sharp knife (a Stanley knife is perfect), score the skin of the pork belly with shallow cuts around 5mm apart and 3mm deep, without cutting right through to the flesh. Sprinkle with the sugar, salt, sprigs of thyme and grated nutmeg then massage the mixture into the skin. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 12 hours (or up to 24 hours).
When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 150ºC/gas mark 2, rinse the salt/sugar mixture off the pork under cold running water and pat dry with kitchen paper.
Put the pears and onions into a large roasting dish and cover with the chicken stock. Place the pork belly on top (skin side up), sprinkle with more salt, cover with foil and place in the oven for 3.5 hours.
When roasting time is up, remove the pork from the oven, carefully transfer it to a baking tray and allow it to rest for around 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the grill to medium (you’ll see why at the next stage) and pour the contents of the roasting tin into a saucepan. Bring to the boil and leave to simmer gently.
When the pork has rested, slide it under the preheated grill around 15cm away from the heat until the crackling crisps up (this should take around 10-15 minutes.) Remove from under the grill, loosely cover with foil and allow to rest again for a further 15 minutes while you blitz the reduced pear, onion and stock mixture to create the Pear and Onion Sauce.
Carve the rested, crackling-topped pork belly into slices and serve with the pear and onion sauce, mashed or roast potatoes and seasonal greens.