Crispy Pork Belly Served with Lentils

I have been absolutely slack in updating my blog and have been caught up by so many things lately.  In July I had family members visiting me from Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur.  I didn't do much cooking at all during that time - in fact we mostly ate out. 

After they left I had to deal with one of my dogs (Milo) having to go in for heartworm treatment.  Milo was treated for Stage 1 and last week he went in for his double injection, one administered on Monday and the other administered on Tuesday.  I was quite worried especially after reading how the treatment was done and the after-care involved.  He is now confined at home with no exercise or excitement for the next four weeks and so far he is doing very well.





Crispy Pork Belly Served with Lentils
Recipe Adapted from Delicious Magazine
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 kg boneless pork belly, skin scored (ask your butcher to do this for you)
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp sea salt
1 large onion, cut into wedges
3 celery sticks, cut into chunks
1.5 cups to 2 cups chicken stock

Method:

1) Preheat the oven to 180C.

2) Place the pork belly on a board and pat dry with kitchen paper. Rub the fennel seeds and sea salt all over the skin.

3) Place the onion wedges and celery in a roasting tin, put the pork belly on top, skin-side up.  Then slowly pour in the chicken stock, making sure you do not moist the skin.

4) Place in oven and roast for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 mins.

5) Increase the temperature to 210C (fan oven) and roast for a further 20 minutes, until the crackling is crisp.

6) Place on a carving board to rest for 20 minutes before slicing. Serve with seasonal vegetables or lentils.

Ultimate Sticky Pork Ribs

The secret to this dish is to get the ribs really well caramelised before you add any of the other ingredients. As they braise in the oven, all that colour will turn into the most amazing flavour. The glaze is packed full of vibrant, citrusy flavours, with the sweetness of the honey counteracting the spices.  It is the ultimate sticky ribs for me! 







Sticky Pork Ribs
Recipe Adapted from "Gordon Ramsay" Ultimate Cookery Course"
Serves 6 - 8

Ingredients:

2kg pork ribs, separated
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
vegetable oil, for frying
6-8 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
10cm piece ginger, peeled and sliced
2-4 tsp dried chilli flakes, to taste
8 whole star anise
2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
8 tbsp honey
280ml light soy sauce
4-5 tbsp rice vinegar
600ml Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry sherry
10 spring onions, trimmed and sliced
800ml chicken stock

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180°C.

2) Season the ribs with salt and pepper, pushing the seasoning into the meat.

3) Heat a roasting tray on the stove top with a little olive oil and brown the ribs for 5-10 minutes until they are coloured on all sides. Add the garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, star anise, Sichuan peppercorns and honey and continue to cook over the heat for 2 minutes until the honey begins to caramelise.

4) Add the soy sauce, rice vinegar and Shaoxing wine and bring to the boil, simmering for 1 minute.

5) Taste and adjust the flavours, adding a little extra vinegar if necessary. Add the spring onions and stock and bring to the boil.

6) Place in the preheated oven and cook for 1 hour until tender, turning the ribs halfway through the cooking time.

7) Remove the pan from the oven and place back on the stove top. Heat the marinade and reduce for 8-10 minutes until the sauce is thick and syrupy. Turn the ribs in the sauce to coat them well, then serve.

Crispy Pork Belly in Milk

I have been eyeing this recipe from "The Free Range Cook" series which is aired on my local cable for almost five months now.  I finally decided to try out the recipe and got myself to a local supermarket. 

You should have seen me at the meat counter peering at the slices of pork belly and trying to decide which piece looked the most succulent.  I took several pieces out and turned it this way and that before deciding on my purchase.  I must have stood there for at least ten minutes looking like a really picky shopper!


Overall this recipe turned out quite interesting.  During the cooking process expect the milk to develop a skin and turn brown, somewhat caramel like.  Although the recipe tells you to throw out the milk after the dish is done, I kept some of it and reduced it down further over the stove top.  I used the sauce as gravy to the pork belly.  I also made an apple cinnamon sauce to go with the meal as well as roasted pumpkin with mustard seeds.





Crispy Pork Belly in Milk
Recipe Adapted from Annabel Langbein "The Free Range Cook"

Ingredients:

1 to1.2 kg pork belly with skin scored
Freshly ground black pepper.
1 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes
3 - 4 fresh sage leaves.
2 to 2 and a half cups of fresh milk

Method:

1)  Preheat oven to 240C.

2)  Pat the skin of the pork dry and season the flesh side with pepper and half the salt. Place the sage leaves on the bottom of a baking dish and put pork on top, skin side up. Score the skin with a very sharp knife.  Season the top with the remaining salt.

3)  Roast for 20-25 mins at 240C until the skin is starting to blister and crackle. 

4) Remove the baking dish from the oven and slowly pour the milk around the meat to come about half to two thirds of the way up the sides of pork.  Do not let the milk touch the skin otherwise it will loose its crackle.

5) Reduce the oven to 160C and roast for a further 1 and a half hours or until pork is meltingly tender.

6) Check the level of liquid during cooking and if it has evaporated add a little more to the pan.  Remove pork from oven, lift out from dish and allow it to cool. Discard the liquids as it breaks into curds.

7) For easy cutting place the meat flesh side up on a chopping board and use a heavy sharp knife to cut into slices 3-4cm thick. Serve warm or room temperature.

Pork Chop with Apple and Red Onion Chutney

I must confess that I very seldom cook with pork. I guess this is because my late hubby, LT, never had a liking for this meat. However I was tempted to make some pork chops one weekend when I was doing my weekly grocery run at a local supermarket. The chops looked really inviting and I had just the right recipe for them.

It's funny that most of the pork I see in the local supermarket chiller counters seem to come from Australia. You might think that since Australia is such a distance away from Singapore, the pork cuts would be frozen. Surprisingly they are not! They are chilled just before export to retain its freshness. When meat is kept at a temperature of between 0°C and 4°C, spoiling bacteria doesn't grow on it the way it does at room temperature. If you buy chilled meat and have no plans to cook it on the same day, the meat can be safely frozen to be consumed within the next one or two days. However with frozen pork or other types of meat, once defrosted, it must be cooked immediately.

Did you know that frozen pork is imported into Singapore by sea? Well I didn't. The meat is usually kept at minus 18°C and can be stored at this temperature for up to two years! When it arrives here, it is frozen rock solid, and usually needs to be thawed before it can be sold to consumers. As with most frozen food stuff, the quality and taste of the product will definitely be compromised. That is why most chefs would insist on using the freshest cut of meats when cooking.

Some interesting facts about the shelf life of frozen meats when stored in a Freezer of -18°C:

Beef/Veal - shelf life of 12 Months
Lamb/Mutton - shelf life of 6 Months
Pork - shelf life of 6 Months
Poultry - shelf life 12 Months



Pork Chop with Apple and Red Onion Chutney
Recipe Adapted from "Quick & Easy Workday Dinners"
Serves 4

Ingredients:

125g butter
1 medium size red onion, sliced
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, cut into quarters and sliced
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/3 cup honey
4 pork loin chops, about 250g each
2 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
725g cabbage, sliced thinly
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1) To make the chutney, melt 50g butter in a saucepan. Add the onion, apples, cloves and honey. Simmer, covered for 10 mins over low heat. Increase heat to medium and cook, uncovered for a further 20 minutes until it resembles a thick chutney. Allow to cool.

2) Season the dhops well on both sides with salt and black pepper. Leave to marinade for 20 mins.

3) Heat oil and 50g of butter in a large frying pan. Cook the chops on medium high heat for 6 - 8 mins on each side or until brown and cooked through. Remove and rest for 2 mins.

4) Melt remaining butter in pan, add the mustard seeds and cabbage. Cook covered over medium high heat, tossing in between for about 12 mins until tender. Season with salt and black pepper.

5) To serve, place a pork chop on each serving plate. Serve with cabbage on the side and a spoonful of the chutney.

Chinese Roast Pork Belly (Siew Yoke)

Seriously this has got to be one of the most sinful foods on a Chinese menu. But then again it has got to be one of the most delicious as well ... of course if you are into eating fats! Just think of the taste of crispy pork crackling with layers of fat and moist, tender meat has gotten me going already. I know some of you will probably say urrghh ... look at the amount of fat and cholesterol, and simply shudder by just looking at it. I say indulge in some sinfulness once in a while is okay.



In my childhood days, my mum would buy Siew Yoke (Chinese Roast Pork Belly) together with Char Siew (Chinese Roast Pork) when she did her weekly marketing. She would slice up both meats and we would have this included in our Sunday repetiore of dishes. Any left over meats would be used to fry rice or added into stir fried vegetable dishes. Those were the days when my family were into so-called "unhealthy" eating habits. These days my parents ever hardly buy Siew Yoke or Char Siew. Definitely not Siew Yoke that's for sure because they have stayed off eating fatty foods. I guess as we grow older, our bodies are unable to adapt so quickly to rich and fatty foods. We would have to make a choice between eating healthy and staying healthy.

I have always been intrigued as to how Siew Yoke was made and after seeing so many photos of it in other foodie blogs I decided to try it out one weekend. I was amazed as to how easy it really is and my first attempt turned out quite nicely. However I must confuse that I did not marinade my pork belly overnight. In my eagerness to make it, I just did a four hour marinade. When I posted up a picture of the cooked Siew Yoke up in my Facebook one of my girlfriends asked me who else had a share in enjoying it. My answer was "me, me and me"!



Roast Pork Belly (Siew Yoke)

Ingredients:

1 kg pork belly (with skin on)
1 heaped tsp rock salt
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 large or 2 small cubes nam yue (red fermented/preserved beancurd-available in jars or tins in Asian shops)
1 tsp five-spice powder
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
1 1/2 Tbsp rice vinegar (or ordinary vinegar)
1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine

Method:

1) In a bowl add on the ingredients with the exception of the rock salt and vinegar. Mix the ingredients until it becomes a paste.

2) Clean the pork belly and pat very dry with paper towels.

3) Score the flesh part (not the skin) of the pork belly lightly in diagonal lines and rub the joint with the paste marinade. Place the joint in a foil-lined roasting tin, marinated side down so it can sit and absorb the flavours.

4) Score the skin part this time, using a sharp knife and being as thorough as possible. Rub in the rock salt all over the skin making sure you get into the cuts.

5) Place the pork belly in the refrigerator uncovered to dry completely.

6) The next day remove the meat from the refrigerator. Line a baking dish with foil (to catch the drippings) and place the meat (skin facing up) on top of wire rack. Bake the meat in a 200C pre-heated oven for 30 mins.

7) After 30 minus, remove the tray and poke the skin using a fork. Then drizzle the vinegar over the skin.

8) Return the tray to the oven and change the settings 250C on grill function (upper heat only). You will see the crackling start to bubble and pop wherever you poked with a fork. Grill for a further 30 mins, opening the oven door intermittently to let smoke escape, until the skin gets slightly burnt and charred. (Any blackened bits can be removed after cooking).

9) Rest the cooked pork belly for 15 minues before slicing.