Crisp pork belly with caramel vinegar : Bill Granger Recipe

1½ kg (3 lb 5 oz) pork belly
2 tablespoons sea salt
Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly ground black pepper

Caramel vinegar

115g (1/2 cup) brown sugar
80ml (1/3 cup) red wine vinegar
2 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
250ml (1 cup) chicken stock
Juice of 1 orange and 4 wide strips of orange peel
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Bok choy with sweet soy and lime

125ml (1/2 cup) soy sauce
1½ tbsp caster sugar
1½ tbsp lime juice
3 bunches baby bok choy (pak choy)

To serve

Caramel vinegar
Steamed rice
Bok choy with sweet soy and lime
Freshly chopped red chilli

Score the skin of the pork belly in a criss-cross pattern with a sharp knife. Rub the sea salt into the pork skin and set aside for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F/Gas 7). Wipe the salt off the pork skin with kitchen paper and dry well. Drizzle a large roasting tin with olive oil. Put the pork belly in the tin skin side down, drizzle with a little more oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast the pork in the oven for 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 190°C (375°F/Gas 5) and roast for another 11/2 hours. Carefully turn the pork over and roast for another 20 minutes, or until the skin is crisp.
Remove the pork from the oven, cover loosely with foil and set aside to rest for at least 15 minutes. Slice the pork and drizzle with the caramel vinegar. Serve with steamed rice, bok choy with sweet soy and lime, and some freshly chopped red chilli.

Caramel vinegar

Put the sugar, vinegar, star anise and cinnamon in a small saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, or until syrupy.
Stir in the chicken stock and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until slightly reduced. Add the orange juice and peel, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until thick and syrupy. Season to taste.

Bok choy with sweet soy and lime

Put the soy sauce and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Simmer until the soy sauce has reduced by half. Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice.
Blanch or steam the bok choy until it is bright green and tender crisp. Drizzle with the sweet soy and lime and serve immediately.

Recipe from Holiday by Bill Granger, published by Murdoch Books.
© William Granger 2008

Serves 6

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BD55 1 year ago

OH MY GAWDDDDDD!! This is so tasty, I've made this a few times now, and wouldn't even consider making Pork Belly any other way now. Just a tip, take the time to make the caramel vinegar and bok choy - so worth it. So crispy and delicious. Bill Grainger is an absolute genius!

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- brett lennon 1 year ago
  
  is caramel vinegar a bought or made ingredient? if bought, where? if made, how?
roxym001 1 year ago

I made this for Valentines Day dinner this year and it was just so very, very good! Can't recommend it highly enough ... got rid of the kids for the night, got the butcher to prepare the pork belly ... sooo easy to make and looked and tasted restaurant quality. Scored well with the hubby too - me and the dinner!

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BD55 1 year ago

You have to make it, I don't know why they didn't include it in this recipe. here it is -
1/2 cup brown sugar,1/3 cup red wine vinegar, 2 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 cup chicken stock, juice of 1 orange and 4 wide strips of orange peel, sea salt, pepper : Put the sugar,vinegar,star anice and cinnamon in a small saucepan and cook,stirring over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer 5 mins until syrupy. Stir in stock and simmer another 5 mins. Add the orange juice and peel, reduce heat to low and simmer until thick and syrupy. season to taste
Bok Choy with sweet soy and lime -
1/2 cup soy sauce, 1 1/2 tblspns caster sugar, 1 1/2 tblspns lime juice, 3 bunches bok choy: Put the soy sauce and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat and stir to dissolve sugar. Simmer until soy sauce has reduced by half. remove from heat and stir in lime juice. Steam bok choy until bright green and tender crisp, then drizzle over sauce.

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- jakalina 9 months ago
  
  They did include it... its in the method
Tony3 10 months ago

the best ever i get requests for it all the time

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ed 10 months ago

THIS IS SPECTACULAR AND WOULD NEVER CONSIDER COOKING PORK BELLY ANY OTHER WAY.

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PH41 6 months ago

This recipe is one of our favorites but my personalisation of the recipe is to use the juice of a manderin and a large piece of dried manderin skin instead of the orange rind and juice. Try it and see.

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jackicam 4 months ago

A friend and I made this together tonight and it was FANTASTIC!! The caramel vinegar is quite sweet but tastes wonderful with the pork - quite licorishy because of the star anise. I got a 2.7kg piece of pork belly - luckily!! cause now there's plenty of leftovers : )

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carlosreynolds 1 months ago

I made the McLaren Vale Double Cooked Pork Belly a couple of weeks ago and wasn't impressed. This recipe however was unbelievable. Absolutely fantastic recipe.

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Jennie-Lee 12 days ago

AMAZING!!! Altough next time I think I will replace the bok choy and soy lime sauce with steamed veg or traditional roast veg. The sauce was a little overpowering even when using salt reduced soy.
The pork was amazing! The caramel vinegar sauce is amazing. Don't skip it!! Massive fan!

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Alex 8 days ago

Hi, Was thinking of using lentils instead of rice - would this work? And how sweet is quite sweet?

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