Crispy roasted pork belly

This is one of those "How to win friends and influence people" recipes, an essential for your roast repertoire. And the good news is, achieving succulent meat and crispy pork crackling is surprisingly straightforward.

Crispy roasted pork belly Credit: Donna Hay

• serves

  4-6

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  2 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 1 kg boneless pork belly
• 1 tbsp sea salt flakes
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced into 1cm rounds
• 1 lemon, sliced into 1cm rounds

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Using a small sharp knife, score the pork skin at 1 cm intervals.
3. Pat the skin dry with paper towel. Rub the salt and oil into the skin and incisions.
4. Place the pork, skin-side down, on an oven tray and roast for 1 hour 30 minutes.
5. Remove the pork from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220°C (425°F).
6. Working quickly, arrange the onion and lemon on the oven tray next to the pork. Turn the pork over onto the onion and lemon. Roast for a further 20–30 minutes or until the skin is golden and crispy and the meat is tender.  

Note

For the crunchiest pork crackling, be sure to thoroughly dry the skin. If you have the time, you can refrigerate the pork, uncovered, for 2 hours or overnight. This will let the skin dry out even further, before you oil and salt the rind.

This recipe is from Donna Hay: Basics to Brillance on SBS Food (Channel 33). Stream episodes via SBS On Demand. 

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.