Pork Belly with Gooseberry Glaze

We made pork belly for our annual “Christmas in July” this year. The meat was soft and succulent and the crackling was very crispy. It was delicious! (And it wasn’t just me who thought so.)

Ingredients: 2kg pork belly; salt; 375mls white wine; 8 garlic cloves; thyme; for the glaze: +/-250g Gooseberry and Ginger Jam (but any jam should do); 250g Maple syrup (or maple flavoured syrup)

Method:

Place pork belly in roasting tray. Rub generous amount of salt on the skin and leave for 15mins. After 15 mins dab excess moisture with paper towel. (Recommended: Cut the fat into your serving strips because crackling is difficult to cut when it’s done.)

Put oven on high (230-240 degrees celsius).

Put pork in oven for 30-40 minutes until skin feels hard.

When skin has hardened put oven on grill so that skin puffs up. Watch that it doesn’t burn! (About 15mins)

Take pork belly out of the oven; put grill function off; and allow oven to cool down to 180 degrees.

Add white wine, garlic cloves and thyme to roasting tray. Put pork belly back in the oven for 1 and a half hours.

Mix Jam and syrup together. You might need to slightly heat mixture just to make it runny enough. Spread mixture over pork belly as soon as it is out the oven.

Cut the pork belly and spread any remaining jam and syrup mixture over the pieces.

Geniet hom!

“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas means a little more.” Dr. Seuss