I’m telling you this pork is life-changing when you are buying your pork belly, try to look for the one that has a really decent amount of meat not too fatty. You do need that little bit of a layer of fat and that soft skin on the top, so, the first thing you are going to do is to score the skin of your pork belly. Crackling would have to be the most enjoyable part of this piece of pork. That undeniable crispy, oily crunch filled with so much flavour is something we all look forward to after a good roast in the oven.

You are going to use a sharp knife here, make some straight lines across your pork and you can use a tray as a sort of little guide so you can get straight lines. Score the skin at one-centimetre intervals, once you are done, take some salt onto the pork skin and spread it at the top. The salt is going to help draw the moisture out of the skin because the more moisture you draw out of the skin the crispier it will be in the oven.

Add salt on the other side of the pork then place that in a refrigerator uncovered for at least a couple of hours, overnight would be great and that is also going to help draw that moisture out of the whole skin. Once the pork is out of the fridge, wipe all the moisture off the top of the pork and make it as dry as possible. Place the pork on a baking tray then add oil and rub it on the top of the pork, add salt because we wiped most of the salt after it came from the fridge.

The next step is the secret technique to give you the amazing crackling sound, flip your pork into a roasting tin so that the skin of the pork is sitting on the bottom of the roasting tin. Place a baking paper on the top and you want to weight that down with another heavy dish oven proof and that is going to keep the skin flat on the bottom of the pan and get everything nice and crispy.

Place that in the oven for about an hour and then take off the pan and the baking paper, turn the pork over and give it 10 minutes skin side up in the oven. Once it comes out of the fridge, I’m telling you this pork will be life-changing. Get that sliced up and serve your crispy pork with some vegetables. Enjoy.!

Ingredients;

  • 1 kg (about 2 lb) skin-on pork belly
  • Sea salt
  • Vegetable oil

Instructions;

  1. Pat dry your pork belly with a paper towel. Take a very sharp knife and cut lines across the pork skin about 1 cm apart.
  2. You want to cut through the skin and but only a couple of millimetres into the fat underneath.
  3. Rub the skin with about a tablespoon of salt.
  4. Sit your pork belly on a baking tray and chill in the fridge uncovered for at least 2 hours or overnight is even better.
  5. Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F.
  6. Pat dry the pork skin with a paper towel. Rub the skin with a little oil and sprinkle with a little extra salt.
  7. Place the pork belly skin side down in a roasting dish. Top with baking paper and place an oven-proof weight on top.
  8. Roast the pork belly for 1 hour. Then remove the weight and baking paper and turn pork belly over so it is skin-side up.
  9. Roast for a further 10 minutes.
  10. Slice pork and serve with vegetables of your choice.