Salt crusted pork belly

from my book (in development) “Why is the fat man, hungry”

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Salt crusted pork belly

Course Main Course
Keyword Pork
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Resting time 10 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Servings 10 servings
Calories 518kcal
Cost $20

Equipment

  • Oven
  • Oven tray with rack
  • Aluminium foil

Ingredients

  • 1 kg pork belly Try to get one that has even depth, not thicker at one end.
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice
  • 1 cup salt
  • 2 cups water

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350F/180C
  • Spread aluminium over the bottom of the oven tray, and pour the water in the base and lay the rack over the top.
  • Wash the pork then dry it completely with paper towels
  • Make 6 slits in the side of the pork below the layer of fat just under the skin, and slide in the cloves of garlic all the way
  • Rub the flesh side of the pork with Chinese 5 spice
  • Place the pork on the rack, skin side up, and pour on the salt.
  • Spread the salt evenly across the skin with the back of a spoon
  • Cook for 1 hour. If the pan goes dry add a little extra water to it. It's there to keep the meat moist. The salt is there to keep the skin dry.
  • The pork will shrink a little, and the salt layer will come away from the skin a little
  • Remove the salt and put the tray back in the oven at 465F/240C for 40 mins to crisp up the skin into crackling.
  • Take the pork out and leave it on the rack to rest for 10 mins before cutting
  • Put the pork on a board skin side down and cut with a cleaver into 1" cubes

Chicken soup with egg noodles

Chicken soup with egg noodles

Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups Chicken Stock from whole carcass
  • 1 tbs pure cream
  • 2 eggs
  • salt

Instructions
 

  • Put 2 cups of stock in a pot for every cup of soup you need to make. Reduce by half.
  • Take it off the heat and add a tbs of pure cream per cup of soup.
  • To make the noodles crack 1 egg per cup of soup into a bowl, season it with salt and pepper and blend.
  • Take a hot crepe pan, run a knob of butter around it to lubricate it and then pour in enough of the egg mix so it just forms a film.
  • Move the pan around to make sure it coats the bottom of the pan. When the top is dry, tap the pan upside down on a cutting board and a thin egg omelette should come out.
  • Repeat with the butter and the egg until you have used all the mixture, and have a stack of thin omelettes.
  • Fold the stack of omelettes and slice with a knife to make noodles.
  • add to the soup and plate in bowls.

Chicken stock

Chicken stock

Cook Time 3 hrs
Total Time 3 hrs

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Chicken carcass
  • 2 Chicken wing tips
  • full cream milk powder
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 sprig Thyme
  • 1 sprig Rosemary

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 180C (375F)
  • Salt the carcass well, drizzle with olive oil and and dust with full cream milk powder. Bake till golden.
  • Put the baked carcass (with any flesh still on it), the wing tips from the wings, and any wings not eaten, into an instant pot.
  • Add 2 crushed bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, a sprig of rosemary, to the pot.
  • Add any vegetables you have in your fridge that are pass their use by date.
  • Top up the pot to it's fill level with water,
  • Set on to cook under pressure for 3 hours. You may have to give it 1 hour of cooking, three times if that's the maximum time it will cook for.
  • Strain through a collander lined with a kitchen towel.
  • Now you have brown chicken stock.

Crispy chicken skin

Crispy chicken skin

Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 30 mins

Ingredients
  

  • Chicken skin from butchering a whole chicken
  • salt

Instructions
 

  • Remove remaining skin from the carcass. There will be a strip down the back
  • Salt liberally.
  • Lay the skin between 2 baking trays lined with baking paper. This wills top it curling.
  • Bake in a 180C (375F) oven till golden - about 30 mins.

Chicken maryland in a creamy sauce

Chicken maryland in a creamy sauce

Cook Time 30 mins
Total Time 30 mins
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Chicken maryland joints Butchered from a whole chicken
  • salt
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 1 shallot
  • 1/3 cup white wine
  • 1 avocado
  • 1 tbs pure cream

Instructions
 

  • Remove the thigh and drums from the carcass in one joint - the maryland.
  • Preheat oven to 180C (375F)
  • Season the chicken with salt, and fry with 1 tbs of olive oil for 4-5 mins or until golden. Turn and cook a further 6 to colour the other side.
  • Take the chicken marylands out of the fry pan and pout in a roasting pan.
  • Add 2 Tbs of butter to the fry pan and deglaze the pan. Add 1 shallot finely sliced, cook until translucent.
  • Add 1/3 cup of dry white wine. Simmer for 1 min. Add 1/3 cup chicken stock, simmer another minute. Remove from heat.
  • Add to roasting pan and Bake chicken for 30 mins or until the internal temp if 75C (165F)
  • Take the chicken out and rest in a warm place. Blend the baking juices with a stick blender.
  • Fry a diced avocado in 1tbs of butter and salt liberally to taste. Add the fried avocado mash to the baking juices with 1/3 of a cup of cream. Mix well.
  • Plate the chicken in a bowl, and pour over the blended pan juices with avocado.

Airline Breast

Airline Breast

Cook Time 10 mins
Total Time 10 mins
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Chicken breasts Butchered from a whole chicken
  • 1 sprig Rosemary
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 3 tbs butter
  • 1/2 cup Chicken Stock prepared from whole carcass
  • salt

Instructions
 

  • Remove the breast keeping skin on, and the exposed bone of the wing.
  • Remove tenders, rub with olive oil and Rosemaryand slide under the skin of the breast.
  • Salt the outside of the breast.
  • Fry in a hot skillet with about 1 tbs of olive oil in it skin side down. Cook till browned (6 mins)
  • Flip and reduce heat to medium. Add 1 tbs butter, leaves of 12 sprig of rosemary, and 2 of thyme. Baste chicken, and cook until the internal temp is 75C (165F) or no longer pink.
  • Remove Breast to rest on a board, add 1/2 cup chicken stock, and reduce to half, then take it off the heat and add 2 tbs of butter and whisk in to thicken.
  • Slice breast into quarters and spoon pan sauce over the top.

Chicken wing

Chicken wing

Cook Time 45 mins
Total Time 45 mins
Servings 2 wings

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Chicken wings from butchering a whole chicken
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • full cream milk powder
  • creme fraiche or sour cream
  • blue cheese
  • butter melted
  • hot sauce

Instructions
 

  • Cut the skin and meat around the shoulder joint, dislocate the wing at the elbow and pull the wing off leaving the first wing bone attached to the carcass.
  • Drizzle with olive oil, and dust with a little full cream milk powder, salt and pepper.
  • Put on a baking sheet and bake in a 180C (375F) oven until golden, turning every 15 mins - around 45 mins total cook time.
  • Cut the tips off with a cleaver, and reserve for the chicken stock later on.
  • Serve with creme fraiche or sour creme with blue cheese blended in, and a hot sauce made from melted butter and hot sauce.