Apple and Sage Pork belly

A delicious and crispy pork belly recipe cooked with apples, onions, sage, and cider.

📝 Ingredients

• 1.752 kg pork belly
• 6 sprigs of thyme (remove leaves and add 1-2 Tsp salt. )
• 3-4 sticks celery cut in half for trivet
• 1 big onion cut into slices 5mm thick
• 3 apples peeled, cored and sliced about 5mm thick
• 4-5 garlic cloves smashed
• 15 g fresh sage leaves
• pot juices (remove excess fat )
• 1 bottle cider 330ml
• 2 tsp flour

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1Remove packaging from pork belly, sprinkle with salt lay on a rack in a dish and leave in fridge overnight to dry out.
2. 2Bring pork belly to room temperature before cooking, pour boiling water over the pork belly, and pat dry.
3. 3Add salt and thyme to a bowl, then rub into the sliced skin of the belly and repeat on the underside.
4. 4Place celery sticks on the bottom of the pot with the pork belly on top.
5. 5Place in a heavy-bottomed pot in the oven at 240°C for 30 minutes, then turn down the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) for 1 hour.
6. 6Slice the onion and apples and scatter on a baking tray along with the sage leaves and smashed garlic cloves.
7. 7Remove the pork belly from the oven after 1 hour 30 minutes, place on top of the onion mix, and cook for a further 1 hour at 160°C.
8. 8Place the pot on top of the stove with all the juices from the meat, removing any excess fat.
9. 9Add 1 bottle of cider and deglaze the pot.
10. 10Continue to cook until all the juices have come off the base of the pot and the liquid has reduced by half, taking about 8-10 minutes.
11. 11Make a slurry of flour and 2 tablespoons of water, pour into the pot of cider and juices.
12. 12Cook for about 2-3 minutes until the sauce has thickened, then serve with the sticky apple onion relish.