Danny’s slow roast belly of pork to die for recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Pork Ham Bacon Sausages | 143 comments
Joint of pork belly with skin side down ready for slow roast
We have Sunday Lunch in the evening and Danny usually cooks it. If I have the day off, I can spend hours in the garden and totter in at dusk to a great meal. Perfect.
Last week he cooked the best pork that I have ever tasted. I had bought belly of pork from Fred Fitzpatrick on a whim.
Danny was polite and definitely suspicious when I showed him the thin joint. Belly of pork is a slim, boy racer sort of cut. A rib of small bones and meat that appears to be stingy. Wrong. BOP has loads of meat.
I was working last weekend and arrived home to tantalising smells drifting from the oven.
“I found a great recipe. But didn’t have the ingredients so made up my own and experimented with a new method,” D explained, as he sliced the delicious meat.
The pork had a deep, mellow flavour and the crackling was truly superb. The skin and fat both took starring roles. Proper crackling underpinned by a sparkling melt in the mouth layer beneath. I was not eating ‘fat’ but gently roasted, bite sized pieces of heaven that had transmogrified in the long slow cooking process into something with texture and flavour. I would kill for a decent pork scratching. Danny’s home made version impressed me and after the first forkful of meat I reeled with applause and, I hate to admit it, envy.
Edit Oct 2015: Getting the crackling good and crispy can be a hit and miss affair. Every oven is different. See Sue’s comment below. If it’s rubbery, you can pop it under a low grill for 5 minutes or more but be careful not to let it blacken and burn. I guess it’s best to play safe and score it, and rub on salt and oil in the traditional manner.
Do also consider serving this perfect Yorkshire pudding recipe with this or any roast.
| Danny’s slow roast belly of pork to die for recipe |
- I kilo joint of belly of pork
- 10 leaves off a sprig of rosemary
- 3 small cloves of garlic sliced
- Foil big enough to form a nest under and around the joint
- Place the pork, crackling side down, in roasting pan. Distribute the rosemary and garlic evenly over the base of the belly. Take the foil and press it over the belly to make sure that the herbs will not shift.
- Turn the whole lot over, crackling side up, and form the foil into a snug nest around the joint, leaving the crackling exposed and ensuring that the fat from the crackling will drip into the foil nest.
- Roast at 140c (fan) for 3 hours and then turn down to 130c for another hour (4 hours!) – these are our fan-assisted oven temperatures so you may wish to adjust for a conventional oven, but not by much I think. Maybe +10% maximum.
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My husband arrived from our pork farm shop with a small piece of belly.—- just for 2. Couldn`t find a recipe anywhere so just put in”roast belly of pork ” on google and up came your great recipe. Having to adjust recipe for my Aga and am cooking in baking oven as otherwise we will be eating at midnight! Will serve it with roast spuds. mashed celeriac and home made Quince compote. It`s cooking now , so will let you know how the Aga copes with it
Hi, Michele.
Lucky you if you have friends who will give you half a pig!
To be honest, I am taking an educated guess here because I have never cooked a 2kg belly.
You would increase the cooking time for a thick joint (like a rib roast) because the heat has further to travel to reach and cook the centre. But because belly is quite a thin joint I definitely would not double the cooking time. There is a greater mass of meat for the oven to cope with but all I would add is perhaps 15 minutes maximum at the lower setting (i.e. give it 1 hr 15 mins at 130). If the crackling does not look crispy at the end, just pop it under a low grill for 7 to 10 minutes.
Please do let us know the outcome so that everybody can learn from your success 🙂
I’ve just got a belly of pork out of the deep freeze for tomorrows lunch (from half of a friends pig!) and it weighs 2 kgs. I know I’m being really thick, but should I just double the time, or will that be too long?
Don’t want to cut it in half because there are 6 of us.
Really looking forward to trying it.
Hi Jackie
The foil stops the meat from drying out. The crackling crisps and in the foil nest the pork remains succulent and creates a great gravy (remove the fat before serving). The latter would dry out too without the foil nest.
Hello Claire
I do hope that you enjoyed our recipe for your pork!
Hi Ross
Pour the honey (or sugar) over the crackling for just the last twenty minutes as it will burn and could ruin everything.
Always score the fat on a joint before roasting
and rub with a bit of salt.
I’d love to hear how it turns out if you have a moment.
I want to follow this recipe but also glaze the crackling with honey. Any tips on honey type? Should I glaze and score the skin before cooking or part way through? I’m worried about it burning and ruining the cracking! Thanks guys. Great site by the way!
Hi just found your site as spending all last night looking through my recipe books.So have just put the pork in the gas oven.(have to say not as good as electic)Fingers crossed.Thanks.
I assume that I can still make a gravy from the drippings caught in the foil? Out of curiosity, what is the benefit for the foil nest? Does it keep the meat moist?
Hello Natasha
I reckon that oven temperatures must differ.
You can always get crackling to crackle undr a fast grill – this is how a lot of pubs are able to give you that ‘straight from the oven taste’!!
Love the sound of your veggies… must totter back to the drawing board on that front!
Hello Susan
Thanks for leaving a comment.
It always works well for us.
Hello Paul
Thanks for dropping by.
Yes 140c is gas mark 1. Perhaps your oven is not quite acieving the temperature that it indicates. Your crackling should be like pork scratchlings after four hours.
We are just normal(ish) people cooking and sharing our recipes. They always work for us.
I just tried your recepie and had the same problem as 11 Kaye Spence. I tried exactly the same temperatures and durations as suggested in your recepie but after 4 hours the crackling is no where near cooked! I have a fan assisted oven and used the conversion for 140 deg C as Gas Mark 1?
Made the belly pork yesterday and it was fantastic thsnks for a great recipe. Served it with slow cooked thinly sliced potatoes with onion and cream and greens. FANTASTIC CRACKLING -although some of the earlier comments made me concerned – the recipe was accurate for my oven. Nothing was left at the end of the meal!