I was fascinated to read recently a Westinghouse survey reporting that, despite Australia’s penchant for watching other people cook all those tricky things on the television, meat-and-three-veg is what most families continue to eat every night of the week. The ho-hum grilled, roasted and barbequed meats, the reliable filler, potato, and a predictable selection of mundane vegetables seem to be what most of us rely upon for sustenance.

I can relate to this to a degree and, while I empathize with justification of such practices, I would like to challenge the repertoire. The menu suggested below may not be ideal on a busy week night after work, but it certainly offers a change for a meal on the weekend when there is the time to cook food slowly and to revise the ingredients you are dishing up. I recommend therefore, that before the unbearably hot summer we are all being threatened with arrives, you try cooking pork belly.

Roasted pork belly is without doubt the most delicious cut of pork, so much so that I often wonder why we bother with roasting whole joints and doing battle with new lean pork chops that are never going to taste of much more than lean protein. The thing is, the belly has all the good bits - the crackling, some fat and the most succulent of meat. It is so fabulously rich to eat, small portions suffice. Without doubt the flavor of pork is enhanced with sweet flavors, and the perfect accompaniments I have found are brown onions, caramelized in their skin, and tiny, sweet Dutch carrots, lightly roasted in olive oil and salt. An astringent green salad is the perfect complement to this meal. The addition of a potato dish I think really is unnecessary and only makes this into a very heavy meal.

I have played around with the cooking of pork belly for many years and this is the result of my experiences, combined with careful consultation with my butcher’s assistants. The dish relies on slow cooking and patience. You need to allow 1 hour to bring the pork to room temperature, 20 minutes of high cooking, 1 hour of slow cooking and an additional 20 to 30 minutes or so in a high oven to finish the crackling. The meat then should rest uncovered in a warm draught free area for up to half an hour before being carved. All in all, that is about 3 and a half hours from go to whoah. Just know this in advance and plan around the time frame.

Roast Pork Belly with Onions, Dutch carrots and baby peas

Ingredients (for 4 – 6 people)

• 1 kg pork belly, skin on, bones removed. Score the skin with a sharp knife, creating 1 - 2cm diamonds. You could ask the butcher to do this for you when ordering.
• Olive oil
• Cooking salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 medium brown onion per person, skin on, cut in half
• 1 – 2 bunches small Dutch carrots, peeled and left whole with a small green tip remaining (this will develop an iridescent color if it does not overcook).
• 500g frozen baby peas
• Boiling water
• 1 – 2 bay leaves (optional)
• 6 whole pepper corns (optional)
• 2 – 3 star anise (optional)

Equipment

• A baking pan with an elevated tray, only slightly larger in size than the pork belly
• A very sharp cooks knife for scoring the skin and carving
• A roasting dish for the onion and carrots
• A large metal spoon

Method

• Remove the pork from the fridge about 1 hour before cooking to bring to room temperature. Remove all wrappings, pat it dry and rest it on a board. Score the skin at this stage if the butcher has not already done so by cutting fine lines 1 – 2cm apart, creating a criss cross pattern across the skin.
• Preheat the oven to 220 Celsius
• Rub the skin of the pork with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 1 tablespoon salt. I find the technique recommended by Clarissa Dickson Wright to be particularly effective; she suggests that one rub the salt into the skin with the intensity you would use rubbing it into the face of your worse enemy. Ha!
• Pour 1 cm boiling water into the base of the baking dish. Too much water will compromise the browning and crisping of the crackling. Add the optional bay leaf, peppercorns and star anise. This liquid will form the basis of a delicious, aromatic jus for the meat.
• Place the pork belly on the elevated wire rack in the baking dish; the pork should sit a good 3 cm above the water.
• Place the pork in a preheated oven, 220 Celsius and cook for 20 minutes. The crackling should start to brown and blister and the pork belly will puff up like a soufflé, all being well.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 160 Celsius and cook for 1 hour.
• Place 2 tablespoons of seasoned olive oil in a shallow bowl and roll the onions and carrots in it. Arrange the oil coated onions and carrots in a metal baking dish and slip into the oven with the pork belly.
• After 1 hour, leave the pork in the oven, remove the vegetables and increase the heat to 220 Celsius. The carrots should be warm and tender and can be set aside. Toss the onions in the oil again and return them to the oven with the pork to caramelize, watch that they don’t burn. Ensure there is still about 1cm of water in the bottom of the pork baking tray.
• Keep an eye on things now, basically the crackling will finish cooking during this time, you may need to rotate the pork pan every 7 minutes or so, so that it browns evenly. The scored skin should start separating at the lines and the color should be golden brown. This will take 20 – 30 minutes. Don’t let the crackling burn.
• Once the pork is cooked to your liking, remove the pork pan from the oven. Place the pork on a warmed platter and set aside, uncovered to rest.
• Check the onions, turn them again. They should be caramelizing in the pan, turning a rich golden color. Set them aside once they are cooked. Be gentle with the skins. Keep this pan – don’t rinse it.
• Cook the peas in boiling salted water and drain, reserving 1 cup of the water
• Strain the liquid from the pork pan into a narrow bowl. With a large metal spoon, start removing any fat from the top of the liquid.
• Tip the liquid into the pan the onions were cooked in and deglaze the vegetable pan with the liquid from the pork pan over low heat. Top up the liquid with water from the peas and any juice from the pork. Check for seasoning. This should create a richly colored, aromatic jus to serve with the meal. To serve strain into a warmed sauce boat.
• To carve the pork belly – place it on a wooden board and cut it into four, six, or eight portions, depending on your number of guests and their appetites.
• Arrange the carrots and the onions with their skins around the pork. Place on the table with a bowl of hot baby peas, the seasoned jus and a dressed green salad.

Elwood and St Kilda residents are blessed with two wonderful butchers. Gruner butcher sells boned pork belly at $16.50 per kg from western Victoria and it is excellent. Elwood Gourmet Butchery use Otway Pork and price is about $19.00 per kg.

Gruner Butcher and Deli, 227a Barkly St, St Kilda. Phone: 9534 2715.

Elwood Gourmet Butchery, Shop 3, 125 Ormond Rd, Elwood. Phone: 9531 2360.

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