Crispy Slow Roast Pork Belly

There is nothing as fine as a piece of roast pork belly with crispy crackling paired with a roasting pan gravy it is comfort food heaven!

The Classic British Roast.

The French have been known to refer to the British as “Les Rosbifs” after our love of roast beef.

Whilst it is true, we are not all raised on roast beef, it is far too expensive, snigger!

We will roast any big old hunk of meat, anything from a whole duck to roast chicken.

Add a slathering of gravy and we are in heaven!

One of my favourites is pork belly, it has the perfect ratio of fat to meat.

Which when slow roast leads to just the juiciest pieces of meat and always seems to have the perfect crispy crackling!

I was raised on Sunday Lunch platters that were loaded with food.

I now prefer a much more moderate plate of food and usually serve this with braised red cabbage and roast potatoes.

In a hushed voice, I will add that I usually use a slice of bread to mop up the gravy at the end of the meal. Is that just me?

But it would be equally good served alongside these baked pears with blue cheese!

How To Make A Roasting Pan Gravy.

The secret to a perfect roasting pan gravy is patience, nothing more nothing less!

Make sure you reduce your liquid and keep on reducing by 2/3 to 3/4 of the original volume. It does not matter whether you are using beer, wine, stock or water.

Then a load of butter to add richness and body.

When you do that there should be no need for cornstarch or flour to thicken your gravy.

It should take approximately 15-20 minutes, but a joint of roasted meat needs to rest for between 15 and 30 minutes so there is ample time.

Placing a roasting pan on your hob can cause problems if like me you cook on electricity.

I get around this by bringing the liquid I am using to make the gravy to a boil.

Then I pour it into the roasting tray and scrape off all the caramelised bits before returning to a pan for the reduction phase.

How To Get Perfect Crackling.

There is a whole host of old wives tails to getting the perfect crackling.

The key is driving off liquid, I usually rely on heat to achieve this either turning the heat to high at the start or end of the cooking process.

Both this recipe and my Chinese Pork Belly use the early heat method and my pork knuckle uses the late heat method.

Many will tell you to make sure your skin is dry. Well, I pour beer all over my pork knuckle before it cooks and that always has the most wonderful crackling.

I do like to score the fat on my pork belly, I have tested it both scored and unscored and both return perfect crackling.

But scored makes it easier to eat.

Salt does help drive off moisture but it also is responsible for flavour so do not skimp!