SLOW ROAST BELLY PORK

Golden, crunchy crackling alongside tender, soft pork is many people’s choice for Sunday lunch. Belly is the perfect cut for this – it is quite fatty, so the meat doesn’t dry out before the crackling becomes exquisitely crunchy.

Served with Boulangère potatoes cooked under the dripping pork it becomes a dream meal.

INGREDIENTS

1kg Pork belly, fat scored with a sharp knife

Dried Bay leaves

3 – 4 plump garlic gloves

salt

850g potatoes, peeled, sliced thinly

400g onions, peeled, sliced thinly

salt and freshly ground black peppper

450ml chicken stock

450g apples peeled, cored removed, diced

4 tablespoon water

25g butter

25g caster sugar to taste

a pinch of cinnamon

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170C

Score through the skin of the belly pork into finger thick widths. I use a Stanley knife? Cut down through the fat, but not into the meat. Pour a kettle of boilng water over the skin. Pat the pork belly dry, using kitchen paper.

Crumble the bay leaves with your fingers, peel and crush the garlic with the flat of a knife. Mash the two together in a pestle and mortar, or, a proccessor, add salt and pepper.

Massage the paste into the skin, pushing it into all the slits. Let the meat stand for an hour, or, so for the flavours to develop.

For the Boulangère potatoes, mix the potato and onion slices together in a bowl and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Transfer the mixture to a large buttered oven proof dish and pour over the stock. Transfer the dish to a rack in the lower part of the oven.

Place the pork belly directly onto the shelf above the potatoes so that any fat from the pork belly drips onto the potatoes. Roast for three hours, or until the pork belly and potatoes are tender and golden-brown.

For crisp pork crackling, remove the potatoes from the oven and heat the grill onto its highest setting. Grill the pork belly for 10-15 minutes, or until the crackling is crisp. Remove from the grill and set aside.

Meanwhile, make the apple sauce, place the apples, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, with the water into a saucepan, cover the pan with the lid and heat over a medium heat for approximately 15 minutes. Keep stirring to ensure even cooking.

The apples can now be whisked, the more whisking the smoother the finish, I do like to keep a little texture, but it is left with you. To complete the sauce Whisk in the butter.

Best served warm.

Original recipe James Martin BBC Saturday Kitchen