Twice Cooked Pork Belly

Pork belly has a lovely texture and is delicious especially when cooked slowly. The sweet, gentle aroma of the star anise goes wonderfully well with the pork belly. The pork skin is crisp and melts in your mouth.

Ingredients

• 1 kg pork belly whole
• 6 star anise
• 2 onion peeled sliced
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 cup water

Sauce

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup chicken stock (liquid)
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 1 orange juiced
• 3 strips orange rind

• Method

  • STEP 1Score the skin of the pork belly with a very sharp knife.
  • STEP 2Rub oil over pork belly.
  • STEP 3Rub sea salt into the pork skin and set aside for a few minutes.
  • STEP 4Preheat oven to 250C.
  • STEP 5In a deep roasting pan, place the onion, star anise and approximately 1 cup of water.
  • STEP 6Place pork belly onto a wire rack which fits into the roasting pan and place over onion and star anise mixture.
  • STEP 7Cook for 30 minutes.
  • STEP 8Reduce the oven temperature to 150C and slow cook for 2 hours. Remove from oven. Do not baste the pork during cooking.
  • STEP 9Reserve pan juices, fat skimmed off. Set onions aside for serving. Reserve star anise.
  • STEP 10When ready to serve, place into oven at 160C and cook for 1 hour.
  • STEP 11During the last 10 minutes, increase temperature to 220C and place pork near the top of the oven, so that the skin browns and crisps. Do not allow to burn.
  • STEP 12Sauce: In a small saucepan, place sugar, vinegar, reserved star anise, cinnamon and pan juices.
  • STEP 13Cook, stirring over medium heat, until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until syrupy.
  • STEP 14Stir in chicken stock and simmer for another 5 minutes or until slightly reduced.
  • STEP 15Add the orange juice and peel, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until syrupy.
  • STEP 16Season to taste.

  Notes

  Keep an eye out for the pan juices, adding water to the pan as needed. This makes the pork juicy and the star anise permeates into the pork meat. Serve with the cooked onions, steamed rice or a crisp salad.