SLOW ROASTED BELLY PORK
BY JAMIE OLIVER
Ingredients
• 1.5kg pork belly
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 red onions, halved
•
2 carrots, peeled and halved lengthways
• 2 sticks of celery, chopped in half
• 1 bulb
of garlic, skin on, broken into cloves
• a small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
•
600ml water or stock
Method
Prep time: 10 minutes. Cook time: 2.5 hours
Preheat your oven to full whack, it needs
to be at least 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
Place your pork on a clean work surface, skin-
and make scores about a centimetre apart
through the skin into the fat, but not so deep that
you cut into the meat. Rub salt
right into all the scores you’ve just made, pulling the skin apart a little if you
have to. Brush any excess salt off the surface of the skin and turn it over. Season
the underside of the meat with a little more salt and a little black pepper. Place
your pork, skin side-
Roast for about half an hour until the skin of the pork
has started to puff up and you can see
it turning into crackling. Turn the heat down
to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and roast for another hour.
Take out of the oven and baste with
the fat in the bottom of the tray. Carefully lift the pork up and transfer to a chopping
board. Add all the veg, garlic and thyme to the tray and stir them into the fat.
Place the pork on top of everything and pop the tray back in the oven. Roast for
another hour. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender. Carefully
move the meat to a serving dish, cover with tin foil and leave to rest while you
make your gravy.
Spoon away any fat in the tray, then add the water or stock and place
the tray on the hob.
Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly
with a wooden spoon to
scrape up all those lovely sticky tasty bits on the bottom
of the tray. When you’ve got a nice, dark gravy, pour it through a sieve into a bowl
or gravy boat, using your spoon to really push all the goodness of the veg through
the sieve. Add a little more salt and pepper if it needs it. Serve the pork with
the crackling, gravy, some creamy mashed potato, nice fresh greens and a dollop of
English mustard.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-
