SERVES 6
Preparation time 10 minutes,
cooking time 2 hours 30 minutes
2kg Blythburgh Free Range Pork belly, scored
½ bottle of red wine
1 red cabbage
200g sugar
400g potatoes
a knob of butter
2 teaspoons of grain mustard
Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Rub the scored pork with a little oil and salt, place in a roasting tray and into the oven. Cook for 30 minutes at 180ºC then reduce the heat to 140ºC and cook for a further 2½ hours. Meanwhile, chop up the red cabbage and cook it gently in a large pan with the wine and sugar for 1½ hours, until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
Boil the potatoes, drain and mash them with the butter and mustard and keep warm. When cooked, take the pork from the oven, remove the crackling and let the meat rest in a warm place for 15 minutes. Carve into six pieces. Serve with the cabbage and mash and a piece of crackling, along with apple sauce and gravy if you like.
How to ensure crispy crackling? Well-scored skin is essential. Rubbing a little oil and coarse salt well into the scores helps too, but the real secret is to make sure the pork goes into a very hot oven. Leave it for at least 20 minutes at the higher temperature before reducing the heat to the temperature given in your recipe.