Pork belly

It was a busy week last week. We had some Kiwi rellies over for dinner Friday night before jetting off to London for a quick weekend.

I wanted to cook something easy that I could put in the oven and forget about, then serve it up for the hungry crowd.

I decided on pork belly with an Asian influence. This meat is rather forgiving if you cook it a bit too long, and you can chat and drink wine while it is cooking, so perfect really. All you have to do is slice at the end and bring it to the table.

I had 2.5kg of pork, which served five adults and two children with not a scrap left. For those cooking a smaller piece of meat, I will include some cooking estimates for smaller meat portions below.

What you'll need

*Serves seven people with side dishes.

2.5kg boneless pork belly with skin on (I had two pieces that together weighed 2.5kg)
2 tbs olive oil
2 tsp fish sauce
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp rice wine vinegar (substitute with white vinegar)
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt

What to do

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

Score the fat of the pork belly in a criss cross pattern with a very sharp knife. Don't cut into the meat. This allows the fat to drain and become crisp.

Pat the meat dry with paper towel. Place into a baking tray. Mix the marinade ingredients (except the salt) together in a bowl, pour over the meat and massage in.

Sprinkle approx 1 tsp salt over the pork fat and rub in. This will assist in crisping it.

Place into the hot oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat to 170 degrees Celsius. Cook for approx 2.5 to 3 hours, until the meat is very tender and peels apart.

Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before carving and serving. We ate this with plain rice and an Asian salad of wombok cabbage, carrot, cucumber and capsicum with a sweet dressing.

The meat was melt in the mouth tender and the skin was lovely and crispy.

Cooking times for smaller meat portion.

1kg pork belly - 220 degrees for 15 minutes then approximately 1.5 hours at 170 degrees.
2kg pork belly - 220 degrees for 20 minutes then approximately 2 hours at 170 degrees.