Pork Belly Two Ways
Christmas is over, but many people still have pork belly in the freezer. Here are two ways to serve it without making it taste like Christmas dinner.
How I roast the pork belly
I prefer to roast pork belly at a low temperature. It usually gets 2–3 hours at 120–130 °C, depending on its size, followed by about 30 minutes at 200 °C to crisp the crackling. Leave it to rest for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
The photographs were taken by Morten Granhaug.
Pork belly with mashed potatoes, beetroot, pickled radish and mangetout, butter-fried spring onions and cherry tomatoes
Ingredients for 4
- Mashed potatoes
- At least 1 kg pork belly
- 12 cherrytomater
- 2 spring onions
- 2 radishes
- 3–4 mangetout
- A little butter
- Salt
- Sugar
- Vinegar, preferably apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar
- Water
- 1 cooked beetroot
Method
- Thinly slice the mangetout and radishes.
- Make a pickling liquid with equal parts sugar, water and vinegar. Make just enough to cover the vegetables and leave them to pickle for about one hour.
- Del spring onionsen i stykker på rundt 10 cm, skjær dem på langs og skill lagene fra hverandre.
- Halve the cherry tomatoes. Quickly fry the spring onions and tomatoes in butter, then season with salt.
- Make the mashed potatoes and roast the pork belly as described above.
- Slice the beetroot and pork belly. Plate with the mashed potatoes, vegetables and a little of the roasting juices.
Pork belly with pickled cucumber and turnip, spring onions and hoisin sauce
This version was inspired by a recipe from Matprat at Streetfoodfest in 2013. There, the pork belly was served in steamed buns. I use noodles instead.
Ingredients for 4
- At least 1 kg pork belly
- 2 turnips
- 1 cucumber
- A little sugar
- Vinegar
- Water
- 1 packet glass noodles or egg noodles, enough for 4
- 1 bunch spring onions
- 1 bottle or jar hoisin sauce
Method
- Roast the pork belly as described above.
- Thinly slice the turnips, cucumber and spring onions.
- Make a pickling liquid with equal parts sugar, water and vinegar. Leave the turnip and cucumber in it for about one hour.
- Cook the noodles according to the packet instructions.
- Slice the pork belly and serve with the noodles, pickled vegetables, plenty of hoisin sauce and spring onions.
Enjoy.