WHAT’S COOKING: Pork belly and crackling with red grapes and fennel

Sweetness and spice go well with pork, and a large air fryer oven is the perfect vehicle for roasting one with tender meat and perfectly crunchy crackling.

A large rectangular Pyrex dish is the ideal vessel for a slab of pork belly, as it contains the joint snugly, in a base of liquid and aromatics, while the rind stands clear of the liquid to get the blast of heat that an air fryer circulates. This turns the rind into the kind of crunchy crackling that crackling fans yearn for.

I love fruit with pork, and this time I chose red grapes and some red grape juice. I tempered the sweetness by adding lots of seeds – mustard and fennel, as well as black peppercorns for the bite they give. I also picked some fresh fennel fronds from the herb garden.

I contemplated stirring a spoonful of Hot English mustard in when the liquid was reducing in a pot once the roast was done and resting, but in the end I decided against it. However, it’s a good idea, so if you taste the sauce and find it too sweet for your liking, just stir in some prepared mustard to your taste, and don’t add any more once you’ve fallen in love with the sauce.

I usually blast a joint of pork belly on something north of 200°C for half an hour, reduce the temperature to 160°C or so, then blast it again at the end.

This time, however, I was in a hurry, so I roasted it at 200°C (in a large oven it would have been 200° or higher) for the full duration of about 90 to  100 minutes. You can push this further if the crackling is not yet as crunchy as you’d like it to be.

It’s important, though, to allow the belly 15 to 20 minutes of resting time, because cooking at that high temperature will seize the meat.

Tony’s roast pork belly and crackling with red grapes and fennel

(Serves 6-8 depending on the size of your pork belly)

Ingredients

Cooking oil spray

1.5kg to 2kg slab of pork belly, rind-on

42 seedless red grapes, sliced in half (or 6 per portion)

100ml red grape juice

1 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp black peppercorns

1 large fennel frond, intact

Salt to taste

Method

Preheat an air fryer oven to 200°C or a big conventional oven to 220°C.

Rinse the joint and pat it dry. Using a very sharp knife, score the rind, following the bones on the opposite side, so that they can be sliced into portions using the score marks as a guide.

Season the belly all over with salt. 

Slice the red grapes in half.

Grease an oven dish that will fit your pork belly fairly tightly.

To the greased dish add the red grape juice, halved grapes, fennel seeds, yellow mustard seeds, black peppercorns and fennel frond/s (less or more makes little difference, if you like your sauce herby, use more), and season with salt.

Place the pork belly in, with the top of it exposed.

Roast for 90 minutes or more, or until the meat is cooked through to the bone and the rind has turned to golden, hard crackling.

Pour the liquid off into a pot and reduce it on the hob, grapes and all.

Let the pork belly rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Carve and serve. I accompanied it with shredded Chinese cabbage braised in olive oil and seasoned simply with salt and pepper. DM

To buy a copy of Tony Jackman’s Retro Karoo Food (Penguin Random House) signed by the author in gold, send an email to him at tony@dailymaverick.co.za
Or buy it through the Daily Maverick shop.

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award.