Crispy Pork Belly with Caramel Vinegar

I cooked this on Friday night and the more I think about it, the more delicious it was. The recipe suggested serving it with rice and bok choy but as I was cooking for both adults and kiddlies, I served with with stir fry vegetables and noodles.

As with any roast it takes some time but there is no real difficulty involved with it all :-) I would recommend that you get the butcher to score the skin for you though. As an additional note, I ordered mine from the butcher, it cost a few cents over $12 and would comfortably feed 6 - fabulous food for a very budget price!

1.5 kg boned pork belly with skin

2 T sea salt

1 T olive oil, plus extra to drizzle

1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 C red wine vinegar

1 cinnamon quill

1 C chicken stock

4 strips pared rind and juice 1 orange

1 long red chilli, seeds removed and very finely sliced

Score the pork skin in a criss-cross pattern with a sharp knife. Rub salt into skin. Set aside for 3o minutes.

Preheat oven to 220 C and drizzle a large roasting pan with oil. Wipe salt off the pork with appaer towel and dry well. Place pork in the pan, skin side down, drixxle with a little oil and season. Roast for 30 minutes, then reduce oven to 190 C and roast for another hour. Loosley cover with foil and roast for a further 30 minutes until pork is tender. Remove foil and carefully turn the meat, then return to oven for a further 20 minutes or until skin is crispy. Remove, cover loosley with foil and leave to rest for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the sugar, vinegar and spices in a small saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then increase heat to medium-high and bring to the boil. Simmer over medium-low heat for 7 - 8 minutes until syrupy, then stir in stock and simmer for 5 minutes until slightly reduced. Add orange juice and rind then simmer for 15 minutes until thick and syrupy. Season to taste.

Slice the pork. Drizzle with some of the carmel vinegar and garnish with chilli.

Recipe from delicious. magazine - June 2008, page 88