Twiced cooked pork belly

Sean Kereama, our Executive Chef, shares his recipe for everyone’s favourite dish,  twice cooked Pork Belly – a tender juicy piece of Pork.

For maximum tenderness and moistness, Sean likes to double cook the Pork belly. 

Select a nice piece of the belly that has even layers of fat and meat, you don’t want the belly to be too fatty.

Remove and bone and trim the belly

Score the skin, finely through to the fat layer

Rub the pork belly with seasonings, salt, pepper, Cumin.

Place the belly into a deep baking dish, lined with baking paper and allow to marinate for a couple of hours.

Pour water into the baking dish with the pork belly, about 3 litres.

Cover the belly with another piece of baking paper then tin foil. Seal the dish well, so that the moisture doesn’t escape.

Set your oven to 150 Deg C and allow the belly to cook for about 3.5 hours.

Remove the baking dish from the oven. Remove tinfoil and check to see if the belly is tender.

Cover the belly with the tinfoil and allow the belly to cool in the juices.

The belly can be cooked at least a day in advance if you like.

Remove the belly from the baking dish. Wipe any excess jelly and moisture from the skin . Rub the skin side with a little oil and salt and place onto a clean roasting tray.

Place the pork under the grill of your oven about 200mm from the elements.

Allow the skin to crackle and keep an eye on the belly so it doesn’t burn.

Once you have a good crackling on the belly, switch the oven to 200deg C fan bake and cook for a further 15 minutes.

Remove the belly from the oven and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

To cut the belly I normally place the skin side down and cut through from the meat side. This ensures a nice clean cut through the crackling.

You can serve the belly with any number of sauces, vegetables, or salad.