Slow Roast Pork Belly with Crispy Crackling

My Mum is a bit of a crackling queen and she happily passed on her year's knowledge to me with cooking pork and the perfect, crispy crackling. Always dry the outer side with kitchen towels or a clean tea towel (which then goes into the dirty washing), score deep into the fat, but not into the meat flesh, and salt, plenty of sea salt. 

This is a slow cooked belly of pork that I cooked with the Simple Slow Cooked Chicken last weekend and it is a bit of a showstopper with that crackling. 

I've used a dry white wine here (Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc) but this also works beautifully with a dry cider in the tin too so feel free to experiment.

Slow Roast Pork Belly with Crispy Crackling

Here's how:

• 2kg belly pork
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• 250ml dry white wine or a dry cider
• 250ml chicken stock
• Fresh thyme
• 1 bulb of garlic
• 3 bay leaves
• Fry Light or olive oil
• 2 carrots

Firstly whack the oven up to 230 degrees on high. 

Now prepare the meat as above, dry the skin and most importantly the fat. Now use a sharp knife and score across diagonally both ways all across the fat, so you have a criss cross of incisions. You need to go as far down into the fat as you feel confident without touching the flesh of the meat. 

Now season generously with sea salt, a good pinch, and black pepper to taste. You also need to oil the meat (but not the fat!) so I use Fry Light to gently spray around the outside of the meat, just a few sprays. 

Chop the carrots into equally sized pieces and place into the middle of the roasting tin, ready for the pork belly to sit on top of. This will help to cook the meat evenly all over and prevent the bottom side drying out. 

Split the garlic bulb into 3-4 bits and scatter around the roasting tin.

Place into the oven and roast for 50 minutes then remove from the oven.

Turn the oven down to 160 degrees. 

Now without touching the meat and especially the crackling, pour in the white wine and chicken stock. Now return to the oven and cook for a further three hours, by which time, the meat should be incredibly tender. Allow to rest for 30 minutes before carving. Enjoy!