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Norwegian pork ribs Ingredients 2.5–3kg/5½ –6½lb bone-in pork belly, prepared as in recipe tip below 3 fat garlic cloves, peeled 3 tbsp sea salt flakes (or 1½ tbsp fine sea salt) 1 tsp juniper berries large bunch (or 2 x 20g packets) fresh dill, fronds and stalks separated 2 onions, each peeled and cut into 3 thick slices 250ml/9fl oz hot water from a just-boiled kettle Method You need to take the pork out of the fridge about an hour before you cook it so factor that into your timetable, adding it to the 3 hours, give or take, that the pork will be in the oven. For now, unwrap it and lay it rind-side down on a large chopping board. Put the garlic cloves into the mortar part of a pestle and mortar, or into a bowl you can use with a stick blender. Add 2 tablespoons of the sea salt flakes (or 1 tablespoon of fine sea salt), the juniper berries and the stalks from your dill, and start either bashing, grinding and crushing or whizzing, as you prefer, until you have an aromatic green paste. It’s harder work with a pestle and mortar, but I adore making it this way: it makes my kitchen smell, rather invigoratingly, like a Nordic spa. Where the butcher has sawn through the bones, you will have 2 long troughs to tuck the paste into. Run a knife through them if you need to open up the cut area a little more. Press the green paste evenly between them. Push as many of the dill fronds into the paste as you can fit. Turn the pork rind-side up. Rub the rind and sides of the pork with the remaining 1 tablespoon of sea salt flakes (or 1½ teaspoons of fine sea salt). Get out a large roasting tin (I use one that measures 34 x 37 x 5cm/13½ x 14½ x 2in). Place the onion slices in the tin to prop up the pork. One end must be slightly higher than the other, so that any liquid pours off and doesn’t pool on the rind, so place the pork, rind-side up, on the onions. Leave the pork in the tin for about 1 hour to lose its fridge chill. Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Pour the 250ml of just-boiled water into the roasting tin, cover the tin tightly with kitchen foil, and cook in the hot oven for 45 minutes. When it’s had its 45 minutes, take the pork out of the oven and remove the foil; the rind should have softened and puffed up a little. Use a large sharp knife to define the squares on the rind, cutting a little deeper into the original scoring marks. Or if you didn’t get it done by the butcher, do your own scoring at this point, cutting the softened rind into 2cm/¾in squares. Turn the oven down to 170C/150C Fan/Gas 3½. Put the pork back into the oven without the foil, making sure that it’s still perched, one end higher than the other, on the slices of onion. Roast for 2½ hours at this temperature, by which time much of the fat should have rendered down, melting lusciously into the meat, and the rind will be beginning to crackle. But if, when you poke the tip of a knife into the pork, it doesn’t feel tender, leave it in for another 30 minutes. Turn the oven back up to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7 and give the pork around 15 minutes – or a little longer if needed, but make sure the rind doesn’t go too far and burn – until the crackling is deep gold and crunchy: some of the little squares may have popped up. Take the pork out of the oven and remove carefully to a carving board. Cut through both sides of each rib, down to where the butcher cut through the bones, then cut a chunky rib section for each person. The crackling may make this tricky, so you can use poultry shears or kitchen scissors to cut through it before slicing down into the meat. This way each rib section gets a proper piece of crackling. Because the meat has to be so heavily salted to boost juiciness and flavour, most of the onions will be far too salty to serve. One or two will be perfect though, and divinely sticky with pork fat; you can share these out meagrely now, or save them for sandwiches later

Roast pork belly recipe ultimate roast pork belly recipe is great for a Sunday lunch or dinner party. The skin is crisp and crunchy while the meat is soft and tender. Ingredients 1.5kg/3lb 5oz pork belly, skin scored 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves 2 tsp sea salt flakes 1 tsp coarsely ground black pepper, 3 medium apples, peeled, quartered, cored and cut into thick slices 2 medium onions, sliced large handful fresh sage leaves 2 tsp plain flour 200ml/7fl oz cider Method Preheat the oven to 240C/220C (fan)/Gas 9.. Dry the pork belly skin with kitchen paper. Mix the thyme, sea salt and black pepper together in a bowl. Rub this mixture all of the pork and skin, then turn the belly over and rub it on the underside of the pork. Place the pork in a flameproof baking tray and roast for 25-30 minutes, or until the skin is crisp. Reduce the oven to 180C/160C (fan)/Gas 4 and roast for a further hour. Mix the apples with the onions, sage and a little freshly ground black pepper and arrange in the middle of a small roasting tin. Remove the pork from the oven and place it on top of the apples and onions, keeping the apple and onion pieces underneath the meat so they don’t burn. Keep the first roasting tin to one side. Return the pork to the oven and cook for a further hour, or until the meat is really tender. Skim any fat from the cooking juices in the reserved roasting tin and place the tin over a medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute or so, stirring constantly. Gradually stir in the cider and l00ml/3½fl oz water and bring to a simmer. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Strain through a sieve into a small saucepan and season to taste. Set aside. Transfer the pork to a carving board. Spoon the apple and onion into a warmed serving bowl. Reheat the cider gravy until bubbling and cut the pork into thick slices. Serve the pork and crackling with the apple and sage and the hot gravy

Pork belly recipes This pork feast makes a wonderful alternative to a traditional Christmas, New Year or Easter roast dinner. Roast pork belly with apple bread sauce and rib gravy Ingredients For the roast pork belly 1.8kg/4lb pork belly 4 tbsp sea salt flakes For the rib gravy 3 tbsp olive oil 4 large pork ribs 2 onions, roughly chopped 2 carrots, roughly chopped 1 litre/1¾ pints chicken stock 8 black peppercorns 2 fresh bay leaves 6 sprigs fresh thyme For the apple bread sauce 1 litre/1¾ pints milk ½ onion, skin left on 5 cloves 2 eating apples, preferably Cox's Orange Pippin 1 cinnamon stick 250g/9oz fresh breadcrumbs 75g/2¾oz butter 3 tsp ground cinnamon Method Preheat the oven to 230C/210C fan/Gas 8. For the roast pork belly, put the pork belly in a roasting tray, skin-side up. Thoroughly pat it dry with kitchen paper, then rub sea salt all over the skin. Set aside for 20 minutes. Roast the pork belly for 30 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 160C/140C fan/Gas 3 and continue to cook for a further 1½ hours. When cooked, set the pork aside to rest in a warm place. Meanwhile, for the rib gravy, heat the oil in large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the pork ribs and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side, turning them regularly until they have caramelised all over. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the onions and carrots to the pan, then pour over the stock. Bring to the boil, scraping any burned bits up from the bottom of the pan using a wooden spoon. Return the browned pork ribs to the pan, then add the peppercorns, bay leaves and thyme. Reduce the heat until the mixture is simmering, then continue to simmer gently for 1½ hours. Meanwhile, for the apple bread sauce, heat the milk in a large saucepan. Stud the onion with 3 of the cloves and add to the hot milk. Stud one of the apples with the remaining 2 cloves and add to the pan along with the cinnamon stick. As the milk starts to bubble, turn off the heat, cover the pan with a lid and leave to infuse for at least 30 minutes. Once infused, discard the apple, onion, cloves and cinnamon stick. Add the breadcrumbs and butter to the infused milk, stir well and heat gently. Just before serving, grate in the remaining apple and stir in the ground cinnamon. When the cooking time for the pork ribs has elapsed, remove the ribs and slide the meat from the bone. Chop the meat and return it to the gravy mixture. To serve, carve the pork belly and arrange the slices onto a serving platter. Serve the rib gravy in a large jug alongside and the apple bread sauce in a large serving bowl. Allow everyone to help themselves.