Recipe: Crispy Belly of Pork

Today’s Blog post comes from Jake, one of our chefs at The Tapas Bar & Restaurant, who shares one of his favourite dishes, Crispy Belly of Pork with Braised Red Cabbage, Sticky Parsnips, Apple Puree and Mulled Wine Sauce.

Sound good?

Here’s how you can make it at home..

Ingredients

Serves four people

Pork

– 1.2kg x pork belly boned and rolled (ask your butcher to do this)

– 10g x Maldon sea salt

– pinch of white pepper

– 1 x 1.5ltr of fresh chicken stock or just enough to cover

– 1 x small onion rough chopped

– 1 x carrot rough chopped

– 1 x stick of celery rough chopped

– 3 x cloves of garlic sliced

– 2 x bay leaf

– 1 x sprig of fresh thyme

• Rub pork with salt and pepper, place in a deep tray with other ingredients
• Cover with foil not touching the pork and place in the oven at 140 degrees for 4 hours
• Remove pork from  oven and take out of tray, keep 200ml of cooking stock and place pork on a clean tray and pat dry with kitchen roll.
• Place oven on 210 degrees and roast until pork crackling appears consistently all over and crisp and golden (approx 30-40 mins)

Sticky parsnips

– 3 x parsnips peeled and cut into 2×1 inch pieces

– 50g a butter

– 50g x honey

– salt and pepper

• Par boil in salted water for 2 mins
• Melt butter in small frying pan and add honey
• Add parsnips and cook on a low heat until soft and caramelized

Braised red cabbage

–  1 x red cabbage

– 2 x star anise

–  1 x stick of cinnamon

– 300ml x apple juice

– 3ooml x balsamic vinegar

– 150ml x red wine

– 200g demerara sugar

– 1 x red onion sliced

– 25g x sultanas

– 1 x bay leaf

– olive oil

– salt and pepper

• Peel out hard layer on cabbage and remove
• Cut into four and remove core, cutting on an angle
• Shred cabbage nice and thinly
• Place a sauce pan on the heat with a good drizzle of olive oil
• Add sliced onion, spices and red cabbage and sweat with a lid for 5 mins
• Add rest of ingredients and cook on a low heat with a lid for about an hour
• Season with salt and pepper

Apple puree

– 3 x bramley apples

– 50g x butter

– 30g x demerara sugar

• Peel and core apples and cut into small chunks
• Sweat apples in melted butter and sugar for 5-10 mins until soft
• Liquidize in blender until smooth (serve cold)

Mulled wine sauce

– 300ml x port

– 2x shallots peeled and sliced

– 1 x bay leaf

– zest and juice of one orange

– 4 x cloves

– 1 x small stick of cinnamon

– 1 x sprig of thyme

– 700ml x fresh beef stock

– 200ml x of pork cooking stock

•  Add all ingredients, except the beef stock to a saucepan
•  Place pan on a medium heat and reduce by half
•  Add beef stock and stock from pork and reduce to coat spoon consistency
•  Pass sauce through a sieve before serving

Serve with creamy mashed potato or simply with buttered new potatoes or roast potatoes

What is your favourite dish at The Tapas Bar & Restaurant?

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