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Crispy Slow-Roasted Pork Belly
The perfect pork belly with glass-crisp crackling and meltingly tender meat underneath.
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The exact cuts from our counter, delivered fresh across Essex.
Pork belly is a lesson in contrast: shattering crackling above, soft rendered meat below. The whole thing hinges on dry skin and a two-stage roast — low to render, high to crackle.
Method
Remove the pork belly from the fridge 1 hour before cooking. Pat the skin extremely dry with kitchen paper — this is the secret to crackling.
Rub the skin with olive oil and salt, working the salt deep into the scored lines. Flip and season the meat side with salt and the fennel seeds.
Place the pork on a wire rack over a roasting tin. Add the apples, onion and cider to the tin below.
Roast at 150°C (130°C fan) for 2 hours 30 minutes. The fat will render slowly and the meat will relax.
Increase the temperature to 240°C (220°C fan) and roast for a final 30 minutes until the crackling is puffed, blistered and golden.
Rest for 15 minutes before slicing through the crackling into thick slices. Serve with the roasted apples and a gravy made from the pan juices.
Pro tips from the block
- Overnight dry-out: pat the skin dry and leave the belly uncovered in the fridge overnight for guaranteed crackling.
- Salt is a tool: generous salt draws out the last of the moisture and seasons the crackling at the same time.
- Score check: if the skin isn't deeply scored, do it yourself with a sharp Stanley knife — through the skin, not into the meat.
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