Roast Pork Belly - Jamie Oliver

This was my first attempt at pork belly - it turned out pretty well!  It's a good recipe, but obviously the pork needs a long time in the oven so make sure you start early.

I forgot to buy the veggies below for the pork to sit on in the later part of the cooking process but it didn't matter - it just sat on the onion, garlic and thyme and was fine.  It probably impacted the gravy flavour more...we didn't end up using our gravy as it didn't taste all that great.  I think using stock rather than water would be better...?

Some mashed potato and baby asparagus were our accompaniments, I also made apple sauce which was delicious (and made up for our lack of gravy).  The meat melted in your mouth and the crackling was amazing - and I'm not usually that into pork belly!

1.5kg pork belly
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 red onions, halved
2 carrots, peeled and halved lengthways
2 sticks of celery, chopped in half
1 bulb garlic, skin on, broken into cloves
a small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
600ml water or stock

"The lovely thick layer of fat on this particular cut keeps the meat really moist as it roasts, and also gives you an incredible even layer of delicious crackling.  Belly is a very underrated cut in the UK, but it is becoming a favourite on gastropub menus, and rightly so.  If you're worried about scoring the crackling yourself, ask your butcher to do it for you."

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 2.5 hours

Preheat your oven to full whack, it needs to be at least 220 degrees.
Place your pork on a clean work surface, skin-side upwards.
Get yourself a small sharp knife and make scores about a centimetre apart through the skin into the fat, but not so deep that you cut into the meat.
Rub salt right into all the scores you've just made, pulling the skin apart a little if you have to.
Brush any excess salt off the surface and turn it over.
Season the underside of the meat with a little more salt an a little black pepper.
Place your pork, skin side-up, in a roasting tray big enough to hold the pork and the vegetables, and place in the hot oven.

Roast for about half an hour until the skin of the port has started to puff up and you can see it turning into crackling.
Turn the heat down to 180 degrees and roast for another hour.
Take out of the oven and baste with the bat in the bottom of the tray.
Carefully lift the pork up and transfer to a chopping board.
Add all the veg, garlic and thyme to the tray and stir them into the fat.
Place the pork on top of everything and pop the tray back in the oven.
Roast for another hour.
By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender.
Carefully move the meat to a serving dish, cover with tin foil and leave to rest while you make your gravy.

Spoon away any fat in the tray, then add the water or stock and place the tray on the hob.
Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to scrape up all those lovely sticky tasty bits on the bottom of the tray.
When you've got a nice, dark gravy, pour it through a sieve into a bowl or gravy boat, using your spoon to really push all the goodness of the veg through the sieve.
Add a little more salt and pepper if it needs it.
Serve the port with the crackling, gravy, some creamy mashed potato, nice fresh greens and a dollop of English mustard.
Serves 4.
Recipe by Jamie Oliver - http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/pork-belly-roast