Slow Cooked Belly of Pork on a Bed of Vegetables in its Own Sauce

This is just one of the best foods in life - the house smells divine and the pork just falls of the bone and the crackling, oh’ the crackling!
Buy a whole pork belly on the bone – cut/ slice of the fat in a whole piece –leaving a thin layer of fat on the meat but a thick layer of raw crackling.

Preparation time: 20 minutes   Quantity: Serves 4   Cooking time: 6 hours

Ingredients

2 onions
3 cloves garlic
3 carrots
1/2 Swede
3 sticks celery
1-2 parsnips
(Or use an assortment of “what you fancy”)

1 whole belly pork
salt to rub in to the fat
1 pint water or stock
1 tablespoon soy
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
1 teaspoon mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
cracked black pepper

Method

  • In a large ovenproof tray, throw in an assortment of casseroling vegetables roughly chopped
  • Lay the whole belly on the vegetables –pour on water or stock, soy sauce, Worcester sauce, mustard, paprika and sprinkle on cracked black pepper
  • Slit the pork fat 1/2 way through, every inch or so, about 1 inch from the sides –generously season with salt and rub in to the fat
  • Lay on top of the meat
  • Cover the tin with foil or a lid – cook in a pre heated oven on the middle shelf in gas 6 / 190*c / 380*f - for 6 hours – for the last hour take of the foil/lid and allow the crackling to brown and crisp up
  • Portion – cut between the bones, cut of large pieces of crackling – serve the belly pork ribs with a portion of casseroled vegetables and the natural jus/gravy