Crispy Roast Pork

Ingredients

• 1 kg (about 2 lb) skin-on pork belly
• sea salt
• vinegar
• five spice
• vegetable oil

Asian ‘slaw:

• 1 green apple, cut into thin matchsticks
• 3 cups finely shredded Chinese cabbage (wombok)
• ½ cup coriander (cilantro) leaves
• 1 long red chilli, deseeded, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 2 tsp caster sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

• First up, you need to prepare the pork belly…this is a crucial step to achieve crispy crackling. Pat dry your pork belly with paper towel. Take a very sharp knife (a sharp utility or stanley knife works well) and cut lines across the pork skin about 1 cm apart. You want to cut through the skin and but only a couple of millimeters into the fat underneath. Now rub the skin with about a tablespoon of salt. Sit your pork belly on a baking tray and chill in the fridge (uncovered) for at least 2 hours (overnight is even better).
• Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F.
• Pat dry the pork skin with paper towel. Rub the skin with a little oil and sprinkle with a little extra salt. Place the pork belly skin side down in a roasting dish. Top with baking paper and place an oven-proof weight on top (a cast iron pan or a heavy casserole dish will work well). 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. Roast for a further 10 minutes.
• For the Asian ‘slaw, mix all ingredients in a large bowl.