Marcus Wareing's Pork Belly with Caramelised Pears and Onion and Pear Sauce
Tender on the inside with a golden exterior, serve this pork belly with caramelised pears and a sweet pear and onion sauce drizzled on top. Taken from Marcus Wareing at Christmas.
Ingredients
For the Pork Belly:
For the Pears:
Method
Step 1
Score the skin of the pork belly with shallow cuts 5mm apart (make sure you don't cut right through to the flesh- about 3mm depth is ideal). Sprinkle on the sugar, salt, sprigs of thyme and half the grated nutmeg then rub it over the pork belly skin. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 12 hours (up to 24 hours). Thoroughly rinse the salt mix off the pork under cold running water then pat dry with a tea towel or kitchen paper.
Step 2
Preheat the oven to 150°C / 130°C fan / gas 2.
Step 3
Put the onions and pears into a large roasting dish with a sprinkling of cloves, salt and pepper. Place the pork belly on top, skin side up, sprinkle on some salt and pour in the chicken stock. Cover with foil and place in the oven for 3.5 hours.
Step 4
During the last hour, add the remaining quartered pears to a large ovenproof dish with garlic cloves, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Add to the oven and cook for around an hour.
Step 5
Remove the pork roasting dish and the pears from the oven. Gently place the pork on a baking tray. While it rests, caramelise the pears with the maple syrup and add more salt if needed. Pour everything (including any cooking resting juices) from the roasting tin into a pan, bring up to the boil and blitz everything with a hand blender.
Step 6
Turn your oven to medium grill setting (or preheat your separate grill to medium). Put the pork belly under the grill on a shelf about 15cm away from the grill and grill slowly until the crackling crisps up - this should take 15 minutes.
Step 7
When the belly has crisped up, remove it from the grill and loosely cover it with foil. Finish the pears by caramelising under the grill for 5-10 minutes until golden brown. Carve the rested pork belly and serve it with the pear and onion sauce, the caramelised pears, a sprinkle of salt for the pork belly and fresh thyme leaves for the sauce.
