Thread: @Angus_A

General rule of thumb when cooking pork belly. It's a two stage process, the roasting and the finishing.
For anything up to around 4kg's this method is common in restaurants, line a baking dish with aromatics, thinly sliced fennel, apple, garlic, onion, star anise, bit of chilli if you so desire. That kind of thing. Cover it tightly with foil and roast at 150 for 3 hours, turn it down to 140 and with the foil removed roast a further hour. In terms of liquid you only want enough on the bottom to stop it sticking and the steam encourages the fat to melt off, i like cider and a bit of sweet vermouth but that's my preference. Even water will work in a pinch.
Once roasted, wrap it really tightly in cling film, sandwich between two trays with a weight on top and press it so it's nice and flat. Then when you're ready to serve, put skin side down in a shallow pan of oil to make the crackling and chuck in the oven for a just long enough to heat through.

Nothing to it.

Originally Posted by Angus_A

General rule of thumb when cooking pork belly. It's a two stage process, the roasting and the finishing.
For anything up to around 4kg's this method is common in restaurants, line a baking dish with aromatics, thinly sliced fennel, apple, garlic, onion, star anise, bit of chilli if you so desire. That kind of thing. Cover it tightly with foil and roast at 150 for 3 hours, turn it down to 140 and with the foil removed roast a further hour. In terms of liquid you only want enough on the bottom to stop it sticking and the steam encourages the fat to melt off, i like cider and a bit of sweet vermouth but that's my preference. Even water will work in a pinch.
Once roasted, wrap it really tightly in cling film, sandwich between two trays with a weight on top and press it so it's nice and flat. Then when you're ready to serve, put skin side down in a shallow pan of oil to make the crackling and chuck in the oven for a just long enough to heat through.

Nothing to it.

Attachment 29425

You da man Gus! Hanging out to try this now! Thanks so much! Will report how it goes ;-)