Slow-cooked pork belly with crab apple jelly recipe

Details

• Cuisine: English
• Recipe Type: Main
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation Time: 30 mins
• Cooking Time: 235 mins
• Serves: 4

Step-by-step

1. For the slow-cooked pork belly, preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3. Lay the pork belly on a chopping board and rub all over with a generous amount of salt and black pepper, the honey, garlic and crushed coriander seeds. Place the pork belly in a large, deep roasting tin, insert the rosemary and bay leaves underneath the pork, then set aside at room temperature while preparing the vegetables.
2. Heat the sunflower oil in a non-stick frying pan, add the onion, carrots, celery and leek and sauté over a high heat for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Add the cinnamon and star anise towards the end of the cooking time. Add the soy sauce, red wine and port to the pan and let the mixture bubble, stirring and scraping the base of the pan with a wooden spoon to deglaze it, then bring to the boil. Immediately pour the mixture over the pork belly in the roasting tin.
3. Return the pan to the heat, add the stock and bring to the boil, then pour the hot stock over the pork. Cover the roasting tin with foil and bake in the oven for 3 hours or until the pork is flaky, tender and succulent.
4. Remove from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 200°C/Gas Mark 6. Carefully remove the pork from the roasting tin to a large plate, pour the sauce off into a bowl and then return the pork to the tin. Return the pork to the oven and cook for a further 45 minutes or until it is cooked and golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the pork rest for 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, pass the sauce through a fine sieve into a small saucepan. Bring to the boil, then boil rapidly over a high heat for 5-6 minutes or until the sauce is reduced, thickened and almost syrupy. Remove from the heat and stir the cold butter into the sauce to give it a gloss.
6. In the meantime, for the caramelised damsons, melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan until it is foaming. Toss the damsons in the sugar and ground clove, then add the damson mixture to the foaming butter and sauté over a high heat for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown and caramelised (do not overcook the damsons as you want them to retain their shape). Season lightly with salt and pepper.
7. To serve, slice the pork belly and arrange the slices on serving plates, then spoon over the caramelised damsons. Serve immediately with the hot sauce and crab apple jelly served in the centre of the table so that everyone can help themselves.