When belly of pork is slowly roasted like this, it produces fantastic, crisp crackling and succulent, tender meat.
Waitrose
Slow-roast belly of pork
Ingredients
½ x 15g pack fresh sage, stalks discarded
½ x 15g pack fresh rosemary, stalks discarded
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Grated zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
500-600g British pork belly joint, from the meat service counter
Salt, for rubbing (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven 220C, gas mark 7. Roughly chop the sage and rosemary then, using a pestle and mortar, grind with the garlic, lemon zest and juice, and seasoning to make a thick paste.
- Cut the string off the pork and unroll the meat so that it is flat.
- With a sharp knife, make incisions into the flesh before rubbing the paste into the incisions and over the flesh, taking care to avoid the skin. Transfer to a roasting tray and, ideally, sit it on a rack. Using a piece of kitchen paper, thoroughly dry the skin and season with a little salt – this is optional, but helps make crisper crackling.
- Roast for 20 minutes then reduce the oven to 170°C, gas mark 3 for a further 2 hours until the pork is thoroughly cooked and the juices run clear. Leave to rest for 5 minutes then cut into chunks, and serve with steamed purple-sprouting broccoli and apple sauce.
- Preparation time: 5 minutes
- Cooking time: 135 minutes to 150 minutes
-
Total time:
2 hours 20 minutes
to 2 hours 35 minutes
Serves: 2
Nutritional Info
Typical values per serving:
| Energy |
2,655kj 639kcals |
|---|---|
| Fat | 48.5g |
| Saturated Fat | 16.8g |
| Carbohydrate | 2.2g |
| Sugars | 0.4g |
| Protein | 48.4g |
| Salt | 0.4g |
| Fibre | 0.2g |
Average user rating Based on 132 ratings
This recipe was first published in January 2009.