Roast Pork Belly

Roast Pork Belly

Excuse me while I have one of my "food is porn" moments: Mmm, crackling. I love you. I love you, you crunchy, fatty, salty bitch. Crunchy. Crackling. Mmmm. Crackle for me, baby. Crackling.
Ok, I'm done. But seriously, how bloody delicious is pork belly when it has been slow-cooked for a couple of hours? The sound the crackling (mmmm) makes when you first break into it has got to be up there with life's greatest noises (the sound of your child laughing for the first time, the collective explosion of joy from a football crowd when your team has just scored, that farty sound you used to make as a kid with your hand under your armpit).
Oh, and pork belly is cheap. Ridiculously cheap and goes a long way. For me, there's just no other cut of meat from the pig that I'd rather have on the end of my fork. This is how I cook it to guarantee crispy crackling and succulent meat ever time. Crackling. Oh god, I'm off again...

Ingredients:
1.5kg pork belly
sea salt
pepper
drizzle olive oil

Method:
1. Make sure the skin of the belly is well scored. Get the butcher to do this if you want. Place the belly skin-side up on a wire rack in the sink. Boil a kettle and pour the water over the skin. This tightens the skin and opens up the scores. Pat dry and place in the fridge, uncovered, to dry out for a couple of hours.
2. Heat the oven to its highest setting. Remove the belly and generously sprinkle the skin with sea salt and black pepper and rub it in to the scores (use thyme or rosemary as well if desired. For an Asian flavour, add Chinese five-spice). Season the underside as well. Drizzle with a little olive oil and again rub in.
3. Place the belly back on the wire rack and place on a deep-sided baking tray. Whack it in the hot oven for 20 minutes.
4. After 20 minutes, turn down to 180C and cook slowly for 2 hours. Baste the skin with any fatty juice every half hour or so.
5. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and allow to rest for 20 minutes.