Packed with umami flavours and gorgeous crunchy crackling wrapped around a beautifully juicy piece of meat.
The key to getting your crackling super crunchy is in the prep. Generally, the day prior to cooking your pork if you have the time, score the skin evenly across the top from one end to the other.
Cover the scored meat with the skin side up in salt. Whatever you have should work as salt works as a drying agent and you want to get the skin as dry as you can. I use pink Himalayan rocks.
Cover the meat and wrap in clingfilm to pop away in the fridge to use the next day.
Before prepping the rolled belly, use a paper towel to wipe away all the excess salt and moisture.
Now your meat is ready to crack!
SERVES: 6
1.2kg pork belly - previously prepped
Butcher’s yarn
For the stuffing
1 cup jasmine rice
1 shallot
3 cloves garlic
1 cup shiitake mushrooms
1 star anise
1 Tbsp sesame oil
500ml chicken stock
200ml water
Salt and white pepper to taste
For the roasting dish
1 cup soy sauce
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
2 star anise
1 carrot
1 onion
1 celery
Miso mash
4 large potatoes - peeled and washed
2 knobs of butter
2 Tbsp of miso paste
½ cup cream
Salt
White pepper
Sesame slaw
½ green cabbage
½ purple cabbage
1 carrot
3 celery stems - with leaves
1 whole fennel
4 whole spring onion stalks
1 bunch coriander
½ cup sesame seeds - toasted
½ cup sesame oil
1 cup kewpie mayo
1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice
½ tsp salt
½ tsp white pepper
Method
Preheat your oven to 220°C fan-forced bake.
For the stuffing, you will want to wash your rice and set it aside. Finely slice your shallot and shiitake mushrooms, crush your garlic and dice into a paste consistency.
Get a medium saucepan nice and hot, add your oil and saute your vegetables with the garlic until melted down and light brown in colour.
Add your star anise. Add your rice and keep stirring as you start to add your water and stock - slowly add your liquid as it starts to cook down. You don’t want this mix to be too wet at the end, so we’re just looking to cook the rice and get the flavours right.
Throughout this process add some salt and pepper to season, not too much as you can check the seasoning at the end.
Keep stirring the rice the whole time that you’re adding the liquids. If you find you have liquid left over and the rice is cooked, then no need to worry as you can add that liquid to the braising pan later; it doesn’t need to go in the rice.
Once the rice is cooked and you’ve checked the seasonings, remove the star anise and pour the rice out into a flat baking pan (with sides) and cool down in the fridge.
While waiting for this to cool, you can prep your potatoes and salad.
Peel the potatoes and wash them, add them to a medium saucepan, and cover them in cold water and salt.
For your slaw you want to finely slice all your vegetables into a slaw consistency; you can do this now and cover in cold water to keep fresh. Coriander can be roughly chopped with the leaves from your celery stems and placed under a lightly damp paper towel to keep fresh.
Mix your sesame oil, lemon juice, mayo, sesame seeds, salt and white pepper to dress the salad later.
Once your stuffing has had time to cool down, on a board add your meat with the skin facing down. Along the middle of the belly add your stuffing mixture lengthways; add as much as you can while still being able to roll and shut the belly at the end.
Roll your belly and tuck one end under the other to close it over. Use the butcher’s yarn to tie around the belly at one end and repeat that along the whole belly until it is nice and secure.
In your roasting dish with a rack, add your soy, water, stock, aromatics and vegetables (all roughly chopped) to the bottom and place your rack on top.
Place your meat on the rack with the tucked end underneath. Rub the belly with a little extra oil and salt before putting in the oven at 220°C on the middle shelf for 1 hour - this will get the skin started - then drop your oven down to 180°C for a further 2hrs.
After 2hrs the meat should still be tender and juicy in the middle, and your skin should be nice and crispy - if not, feel free to put the oven back up for a further 20 minutes to get the best crackling.
Take out of the oven and rest on a board, using the liquid from the bottom to cook it down in a small saucepan to make a nice aromatic gravy.
Heat your potatoes until you can easily put a small knife through the middle and mash together with the miso, butter, cream and seasonings.
Drain the slaw and add your dressing. Garnish with the likes of coriander, spring onion, and fried shallots. Once your pork has had time to rest, remove the yarn and slice into 2cm sized pieces to serve.
This dish would be the ideal addition to any Christmas table. Enjoy!
