We’ve always had a signature pork dish on the menu as you’d expect.

With the change in the seasons, our crispy roast pork belly makes the ideal Sunday lunch! The herbs and fennel seeds cut through the flavour to add a bit of an aromatic edge.

Our new PIG book; Tales and Recipes from the Kitchen Garden and beyond is packed with so many simple recipes, kitchen garden tips, interior inspirations and home-grown how tos.

One of the simple recipes is the crisp, salty crackling and sweet tender meat that is pork belly!

To make the pork belly serving 4-6 people you’ll need…

• 800g- 1.2kg pork belly
• 100g table salt
• Rapeseed oil
• 1 garlic bulb
• 3 sprigs rosemary
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 4 black peppercorns

 

Method

Preheat the oven to 240 ̊C, 220 ̊C fan (475 ̊F), Gas Mark 9. Get the hardware out, because for this dish you’ll need to score the pork belly skin with a sharp blade. We use a Stanley knife, but a good sharp kitchen knife will do the trick.

Don’t go too deep into the skin as this will cause the juice to come out during the cooking and dry the meat, preventing the skin from going crispy – we don’t want that!

Salt the pork belly skin with 40g of the salt and leave for 10 minutes. Pat it dry with a kitchen towel and repeat the process. After the second time of patting dry, drizzle the meat with oil and salt the skin with the remaining 20g of salt.

Split the garlic bulb in half and place in a deep oven tray with the herbs, fennel seeds and peppercorns. Place the pork on top.

Put the dish in the preheated oven for 40 minutes to allow the skin to get crispy, then reduce the heat to 210 ̊C, 190 ̊C fan (415 ̊F), Gas Mark 6 ½ and cook for 30 minutes, then reduce again to 190 ̊C, 170 ̊C fan (375 ̊F) Gas Mark 5, and cook for a further 20 minutes.

Leave the meat to rest out of the oven for 30 minutes.

The dish is perfect for a roast dinner, and the cooking juices can be used to make a simple sauce – just add a dollop of wholegrain mustard and a splash of double cream. It’s delicious served with any steamed greens from the garden. 

For more of our classic recipes, THE PIG book can be purchased here.