Sticky Pork Belly Recipe

Pre-heat oven 200C. And heat the grill to high.

Score through the pork skin into the fat about 5mm apart and along the length of the meat. Repeat on the underside.

Rub salt and pepper into both sides of the belly into the cracks. Sprinkle the skin with sunflower oil and pop the meat under the grill to burn off any hairs.

Place a metal grill in a large roasting dish with the meat skin side up sitting on top of the grill. You want to make sure the pork is not sitting in its own fat. Add a small cup of water to the tray and cook for about 25 minutes then turn the oven down to 185C and cook for another hour. If the tray is filling with rendered fat, tip this into a heatproof bowl and discard in the bin, NOT in the sink!

For the glaze, place the lime juice, sunflower oil, mirin, mustard, soy sauce and sugar into a small bowl and mix well.

Once the pork skin is crisp and golden after an hour, remove the meat and tip off all of the remaining fat into a heatproof bowl.

Now pour the glaze over the meat and return to the oven for 15 minutes or so.

Remove from the oven and let the belly rest on a warm serving plate. Set the tin over a medium heat and let the remainder of the glaze in the tray reduce to a slightly sticky sauce – don’t over reduce as it will end up being too thick and salty.

Carve the pork belly down the score lines made earlier and arrange the meat on a warm plate.

Return the roasting tin with the sticky sauce to the heat, add the stock, tomatoes and olives, mixing well. You want the sauce to end up with the consistency of light gravy. Stir in the basil leaves and tip the whole contents of the tray, ribs and all, alongside the belly meat. Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes.