Crispy pork belly! Tried and trusted.

After working in restaurants for ages, one tends to pick up a few things. This is definitely one of my favourites, and every time pork belly is mentioned, my friends can’t help but reminisce of this recipe.

Being predominantly a pastry chef, I’ve tried to focus my efforts on perfecting a select few savoury items. I’ve used this recipe in food trucks, restaurant kitchens, and the odd dinner party.
As this is a fairly time consuming recipe, I suggest you plan accordingly.

For the pork
-3kg pork belly (Skin off, bone off)
-1/2 white onion
-2 cloves garlic
-50g grated ginger
-2 tbspn chinese five spice
-Salt and pepper to taste (careful here, because pork tends to absorb a lot of salt)
-1 tbspn dried thyme
-2 oranges
-2L vegetable stock

Method
Place pork belly in a deep baking tray. I use a hotel pan in the restaurant, but whatever deep dish you have should be fine.
Place ½ onion on top of the pork.
Crush garlic cloves and place in tray.
Grate the orange peel straight onto the pork belly, and juice the oranges alongside it.
“Sprinkle” grated ginger, chinese 5 spice, thyme and salt and pepper on top of pork, slightly rubbing it in.
Fill baking tray with veggie stock, halfway up the pork.
Cover PROPERLY with tin foil. It needs to be AIRTIGHT so as to not allow any moisture to escape.
Bake at 200 Celsius/392 Farenheit for 4 hours, checking on liquid levels every hour. If it gets a bit dry, add more stock.
When the time is up, remove from oven, uncover and wait to cool down.
Be patient here. The longer you wait, the less the risk of burning yourself. This stuff can stay deceptively hot for a long time.
You can now remove the belly from the baking tray, and portion into “slabs” or “strips”
Place the portioned belly in the fridge to cool down and firm up a bit.

While you wait for the belly to chill, you can make your sauce.
For the sauce
Take the remaining pork liquid from the roasting tray. Strain out all the vegetable pieces using a sieve. Place this liquid in a small pot with 100ml of soy sauce, 1 tbspn grated ginger, and 50g sugar.
Reduce until thick and glossy.

For serving the belly
Place a bit of vegetable oil (or animal fat) in a thick based pan.
Bring this up to a high heat.(Needs to be smoking almost)
Gently place your chilled pork belly into this pan.
Once brown and crispy, flip it over.
Repeat until all sides are crispy.
You can add more salt and pepper here to suit your taste.

The sauce can be drizzled over the belly, or used as a dipping sauce.

Plating is entirely up to you.
I like to serve this with a very fine potato mash, and blanched/fried broccoli.
Sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds over for an interesting looking plate.

As always, any questions are welcomed.
Cheers!