Roast pork belly with red cabbage and apple sauce

Ingredients

• 2 kg pork belly
• 2 tbsp salt, for salting the skin
• salt and black pepper
• seeded mustard, to serve

For the apple sauce 

• 10 g butter
• 3 red apples, finely chopped (unpeeled)
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 1 tbsp sugar

For the cabbage

• 60 g butter
• 1 small red cabbage, thinly sliced
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 cup (250 ml) chicken stock
• 2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Refrigeration time: overnight

Resting time: 20 minutes  

Instructions

1. Use a sharp knife to cut shallow slits into the meat of the pork and a bamboo metal skewer to prick many small holes into the skin of the pork. Pour boiling water over the skin and then pat dry. You can skip this step if you like, but it does help the crackling. Cover the skin-side generously with salt and place on a rack in the fridge uncovered overnight to dry further.

2. For the apple sauce, combine the ingredients in a small saucepan with ½ a cup of water. Bring to a simmer cook, covered, 10 minutes. Use a fork (or stick blender) to mash to a rough purée. Set aside until ready to serve.

3. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Place the pork on a baking tray and roast for 50 minutes, then turn the oven to grill/broil function and grill the pork for a further 10 - 15 minutes, watching carefully to ensure it doesn’t burn. Remove when the skin is crisp (see Note). Remove from the oven and rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

4. To make the cabbage, heat a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the butter and cabbage. Cook for 3 minutes, then add the lemon juice, sugar, white wine vinegar and chicken stock. Season well with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and braise for 30-45 minutes, or until very tender. Stir through the parsley.

5. Serve the roast pork belly with the apple sauce and braised red cabbage with seeded mustard on the side.

Note

For great all-over crackling, try to keep the skin of the port as horizontally flat as possible. Aluminium foil is a great help. A bit of crumpled foil can raise any dips in the skin and can be used to tent any raised areas that are starting to blacken before the rest of the skin has crackled.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

Want more from The Cook Up?

• Stream free here at SBS On Demand

• Get the show recipes, articles and more here