Recipe: Twice Cooked Pressed Belly of Murray Valley Pork with parsnip puree

Nothing is more festive than a juicy piece of pork belly with the perfect crackling. Here is our favourite pork belly recipe - Perfect to celebrate Christmas or ring in the new year and celebrate what has passed and all that is to come!

Ingredients

1 kilo of Murray Valley Pork pork belly,
2 bulbs of garlic, sliced in half horizontally
a few sprigs of thyme
White wine (enough so that it covers the roasting pan during the cooking process plus a little more to deglaze the pan when done)
500 ml chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 160c (fan forced, add 20c if the oven is not fan forced)
Score the pork belly.
Season the pork belly generously with salt, pepper and olive oil.
Place the garlic in a roasting pan and the thyme on top of the garlic. Place the pork belly on top of the thyme.
Cook the pork belly for 2 hours.
When done, remove and set aside to rest.
Place the roasting pan over the stove top (be careful as the pan will still be hot.
Deglaze the roasting pan with a generous splash of white wine and allow to reduce by for around 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and allow to reduce the liquid by half. Sieve the sauce into a pan, making sure to press the garlic through the sieve as much as you can so the sauce is infused with the garlic. Set aside
Place the pork on a tray and place another tray on top of the pork belly.
Press down on the top tray and place some weights (i.e. some cans from your pantry) on top of the tray to weigh it down. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours.
When the pork is ready, pre-heat the oven to 240c (fan forced).
Slice the belly of pork into 4 to 6 portions of smaller squares and cook for around 15 minutes until the skin crisps.
While the pork is cooking, heat the gravy. To serve, place the pork on a bed of mash (we used parsnip puree instead to make it a little interesting) and pour the gravy around the pork.

The pork came out of the oven looking absolutely perfect. Fragrant, sweet and succulent, this roast pork was winter comfort food at its best. Golden brown, blistered and crunchy, the pork crackling had us fighting for the last piece.