… rocking naked in the corner of a dark room… as the cold sweats coursed through my body and the taste of this glorious crispy pork belly finally leaves my system I realised that I had just eaten the last of the pork belly that my dear friend Zena delivered to me in December… how could it be that there was no more… and YES i checked the freezer already… twice…
…and just as my body shuts down and I go into cold turkey, the phone rings and it’s my pork belly dealer with my drug of choice… another whole pork belly ready for deliver on Friday… I can finally relax and feel good about the world again…
Crispy Chinese Pork Belly
… and its such a conundrum with pork belly because I want to experiment, try out different recipes and varied ways of preparing and cooking it but you know what… there really is nothing better than just slamming it in the oven for a good old crispy crackling… this slight variation on the norm was devised by good old Nigel Slater… it is very simple but packs the flavour and has enough saltiness from the soy to cut through the fat… I highly recommend it.
1 large cut of pork belly – scored
3 cloves of garlic – crushed
2 tablespoons of light soy sauce
2 tablespoons of groundnut oil (although I used sesame oil which was heavenly)
2 teaspoons of chinese 5 spice
1 teaspoon salt
– pre-heat the oven to 220C
– simply mix up all the ingredients into a marinade and rub it healthily all over the pork, if you can marinate it overnight then that’s great but a minimum of 4 hours is a must
– slam it in the oven on 220C for 20mins, then turn down the oven to 180C for 45mins
simple and glorious… a bit like me! eat and of course, enjoy!
YUM!!!-I am definitely going to try this.
Dom, you are a mind reader! I have a kilo slab of pork belly in the freezer that is due to become Saturday night's dinner – and this is what I am now going to do with it!
BTW, is your Baking Mad debut on Youtube?
lol “rocking naked in the corner of a dark room” – I've never had much of an addiction of meat and especially not pork. But then I've never had pork belly, so maybe I should laugh 😉
Oh no, not my food of choice at all bleurgh! Did you wear your Domket when you were rocking naked int he corner of the room? I'm glad we didn't have to see that – ha ha!
I've only had it once and it didn't seem to be cooked enough, kinda tough and fatty. It should be nice and crispy right?
Yours looks awesome and I'm trying to get the rocking visual out of my head now 🙂
you've got to start behaving yourself with these photos Dom, they look sinfully delicious.
Hey Lucy, yes it is on youtube but alas only for UK viewers… boo
Hi Gerry… Pork Belly is very fatty… it is made up of many layers of fat and meat which make it THE most flavoursome cut but it can still be an acquired taste and texture… this roasting method with the high heat at first will always give you a very thick crisp skin but there is still a fatty layer underneath, although the fat really should just melt in the mouth… mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
bit of food porn never hurt anyone!
shhhhhh!
Fabulous looking food. I envy you your supplier!? All that mouth watering melting meat infused with five spice. Mmmmm GG
Pork belly is a big big hit in our house.
i always put it in for a long slow roast either in the over or the BBQ in the summer. Knock out!
Salivations Dom…
That looks delicious even at breakfast time! (I'm writing from Oz):D
Can you please send your pork belly dealer my way??? PLEASE???? 🙂
i LOVE this kind of recipe, the pork belly does most of the work!
Dom you are a hit here – anything with chinese in the title gets a run in this house. Athough this pork belly is definitely a fav. I must say Australian Womens Weekly give Nigel a run for his money – my blog “Pork Belly for Hungry Piggies” well worth trying. My mouth is watering as I type – (not sure about the rocking in the corner though!)
Pork belly is just one of those things I have yet to try. You make it sound pretty tantalizing Dom.
I'm with Val … have never had pork belly! It's not a popular dish here in New England … perhaps down South, it has a presence …? Hmmm … now I'm curious!
Gorgeous way to use pork belly, I've bookmarked this for the weekend as we have a piece in our freezer. Love the idea of having a pork belly dealer!
oh pork belly… I am drooling just the thought of it. Looks glorious Dom! You need to introduce me to your dealer…
love it dom!!!! i love nigel slater too, his recipes are always simple and failsafe. I would say the actual chinese way of making crispy pork belly is actually pretty much the same as the westerners, even simpler perhaps, just lots of salt and nothing else except some some nifty tricks to get it ultra crispy and juicy, THEN comes the sauce hur hur.
Oh yes, Nigel Slater is my TOP favourite chef, unpretentious and so instinctive, I love everything he does, and this, this is JUST too much, fabulous! A wonderful post Dom.
Karen
I can feel your withdrawal symptoms from here. sad times but at least you had this amazing crispy pork belly which I wish I could have all for myself!
Guess what I've got in my freezer, and guess what I'm going to do with it as soon as my wife's back is turned (she's off to Australia for a while). For some bizarre reason she's not as enamoured as I am.
Liking your description of yourself as 'simple and glorious'. Nice.
As ever, a slie of pig belly does it for me. Good crackling.