Crispy Pork Belly Roast

Ingredients 

• 1kg fresh pork belly
• sea salt & black pepper
• 4 - 6 potatoes, peeled, halved or quartered depending on size
• 2 - 4 carrots, peeled, halved lengthways and cut into large chunks
• 1 head of garlic, skin on, broken into cloves (optional)
• 500ml stock     

Method

1. Preheat oven to at least 220°C.
2. Place your pork on a clean board, skin-side upwards. With a sharp knife
   make scores about a centimetre apart through the skin into the fat, but not into the meat.
3. Rub salt right into all the scores you’ve just made, turn it over and season the underside of the meat with a little more salt and black pepper.
4. Place your pork skin side-up, in a roasting tray big enough to hold the meat and the vegetables (later), and place in the hot oven.
5. Roast for 30 - 40 mins until the skin has started to blister and you can see
   it turning into crackling.
6. Turn the heat down to 180°C and roast for another 45 mins.
7. Remove  from the oven and baste with the fat in the bottom of the tray then lift the pork out and transfer to a chopping board.
8. Add the potatoes, carrots & garlic to the tray.  Place the pork on top of the vegetables and return the tray back in the oven. Roast for another hour.
9. Now the meat should be soft and tender. Remove the pork to a board, cover with tin foil tent and leave to rest while you make the gravy.
10. I like to add about 8 -10 ice cubes to the tray to remove any excess fat, as the fat sticks to the ice cubes, just gently remove, then add the stock and place the tray on the hotplate, bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to scrape up all the bits on the bottom of the tray. When you’ve got a rich gravy, pour it through a sieve into a gravy boat.
11. Place all the vegetables and meat on a platter and serve.





Pork 1/3rd cooked and the veg added

Pork rested and sliced

Ready for the table