Confit of Belly pork with mash, braised cabbage, crackling and red wine jus

Heres a favourite of mine, slow cooked belly pork.

After stripping down the belly of excess fat carefully 'butterfly' the belly to double its surface area, rub it all in chinese spice, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and dried chilli, add some fresh herbs then roll tightly and tie.
Add it to a large tin filled with seasoned oil (1/4 olive 3/4 veg), cover in tin foil then place in the oven for 4 hours at 140 degrees.



The black pudding puree is made by pan frying some black pudding slices, blending them down with butter, red wine, a dash of cream and seasoning.

The braised cabbage is finely diced and added to a hot pan with a knob of butter, as it starts to soften and break down, add a cup of red wine and cook until soft.

For the crackling, I take it off the pork belly (ask for it with the belly from the butcher), rub it in oil and seasoning then place it between two racks to stop it warping, place in an oven for an hour or so on low, the idea with crackling is to dry it out more than cook it, so its best done slowly until all the fat is rendered out of it without burning the now dessicated skin else you will end up with either underdone chewy crackling, or with it burnt with an acrid taste.

The red wine jus is made by reducing 1/2 a bottle of wine by 2/3's with a dollop of redcurrant jelly and a handful of sugar.

Once the pork is cooked its best to let it cool for an hour then wrap tightly in clingfilm so it chills in a nice circular shape, afterwards slice and re heat in a pan or in the oven.