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
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Preheat the oven to 230C/210C fan/Gas 8.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
