Spiced Pork Belly Confit

Mm-mm.   Confit of anything is just delicious.  If you don't believe what a little bathing in oil can do for even a humble piece of chicken then check this post for the Cheaters Confit Chicken.  But this particular post is about the Pork Belly I found in the freezer and what I ended up doing with it.

Pork belly is a favourite.  It is rich and unctuous and just divine and becoming popular and therefore becoming expensive.  Just like the fabled Ox Tails.  Once just thrown to the dogs and now, unaffordable should you find some that have not been exported.  However, less ranting and more discussing pork.

The thing about pork belly is that it is just a slab of unsliced and uncured bacon.  People often treat it as the quick fix food that bacon is and are disappointed because they are making the mistake in the first place of treating bacon as a quick food.  Sure, unwrapping it and whacking it in a burning hot frypan makes it quick cooking and quick to repair, but the truth that people forget is that bacon is actually a slow food.  When I have made bacon in the past, it takes up to 5 days of brining and curing to get it to the point of being a fast food.  Similarly Pork Belly needs the same treatment.

In the photo below I show the flavours that I want to infuse with the Pork Belly.  Firstly garlic.  JUst a few cloves but then I thought about saving some of those coves and storing covered in a little of that oil in the fridge for a while.  They will have a sweet flavour and make a great addition to making things, not least of which is boring mashed potatoes.  After that, we come to the rest of the team.  Peppercorns for a little pizzazz, whole seeds of fennel, cumin, coriander and the star of the show, whole Star Anise.

Spices awaiting the Pork Belly and more oil

These spices fill the whole house with a wonderful fragrance and they will also infuse that into the belly itself; not in a strong way, but just enough to help balance the richness.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon each whole peppercorns, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds
2 whole star anise
1 bay leaf
whole garlic cloves still in paper to suit but at least half a dozen
250 mls of bran oil and olive oil
600 grams pork belly
salt

Method

Preheat the oven to 100 deg C.

Lay the spices and garlic in the botton of a roasting dish not much larger than the piece of meat you are cooking.  Cover with some of the oil then lay the pork belly on top.  Add the rest of the oil but dont quite cover the skin.

Add to the preheated oven cook for an hour before removing and turning over.  Return to the oven and cook for another 3 hours, turning every hour.

At this point you can remove the pork belly from the oven and place in a container and cover with the oil, keeping in the fridge for a week.

To serve, remove the pork belly from the oil and pat dry.  Place on a lined baking sheet in a preheat 180 degC oven and bake for 45 minutes.   Be careful as a lot of fats will render out at this point.

Slice on the bias and serve.