Slow Cooked Pork Belly

Pork belly is full of flavour and wonderful on a barbecue. This way the belly is cooked slowly in fragrant stock and wine until it melts in your mouth with flavour and succulence. It is easy to prepare and cooks itself in the oven.

1kg pork belly

1T fennel seeds

1t allspice

1T dark brown sugar

1/2t olive oil

400ml hot vegetable stock

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 onions sliced

1 bay leaf

1 cup dry white wine

salt and pepper

6 ripe apricots

Heat the oven to 180C. Place the belly in a large dish. Pour over boiling water and score the skin. Cut the belly into strips or squares now if you prefer. Pat the belly dry, then rub the allspice, fennel and sugar over the meat not the skin. ( Mix the spices and sugar with the olive oil to make rubbing them onto the pork easier).

Place the  onion, rosemary, and bay leaf with the pork belly in a roasting tray. Carefully pour in the stock and wine making sure you do not wet the skin. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 2 hours.

Turn up the oven to 220C. Take out the pork and pour the pan juices into a jug and strain off the fat. Return the pork and juices to the roasting tray, together with the apricots. Rub salt onto the skin. Cook uncovered for 25 minutes or until the skin is crisp and golden. Serve with the pan juices which should have reduced with the increased oven temperature, wild brown rice and the baked apricots.