Festive Glazed Chicharrones

There are so many ways to cook pork belly, we're spoilt for choice this festive season!

3 hours cook

Ori Goldberg

Twisted: Unserious food tastes seriously good.

Ingredients

for the pork belly brine:

1 litre water

100g salt

2bay leaves

2sprigs of thyme

handful ofsage

1sprig of rosemary

3garlic cloves

7gmixed peppercorns

1 tbsp molases sugar

1orange

1kg pork belly , sliced into strips

for the glaze:

1 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp marmalade

1 tsp cranberry sauce

2sage leaves

1garlic clove

1 tspmixed peppercorns

salt and pepper, to taste

for the festive guac:

3 avocados

1orange, juice and zest

1lime, juiced

1red chilli, diced

1sage leaf, finely chopped

pinch offresh rosemary, finely chopped

salt and pepper, to taste

Pork belly is a staple at the Christmas table in some households, and festive chicharrones are bursting with festive flavours, and adds a fun little twist to your Christmas dinner!

Method

To a large sauce pan, add your water, and all your brine ingredients, including the pork, before placing on high heat until boiling. Turn the heat down and leave the pork to simmer in the brine for an hour.

In the meantime, add all your glaze ingredients into a small sauce pan, turn onto medium heat, and let everything melt and simmer for around 5 minutes. This will allow the glaze to reduce slightly, and allow the flavours to develop. Strain and set aside for later.

Once the pork has cooked for an hour, remove onto a tray of paper towels, and pat completely dry. Place the pork pieces on a cooling rack, and let them air dry for an hour.

Whilst waiting, mash up your avocados (I like my guac a little chunky) and add in your orange and lime juice, followed by your chopped chilli, herbs and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and leave in the fridge until ready to serve.

When the pork pieces are completely dry, heat neutral cooking oil to 200°c, and gently place your pork into the hot oil. Be careful of spitting oil at this point, but do not panic as hot oil can be very dangerous (do not leave the oil over a high heat, once at temperature, turn heat down to medium).

Once cooked, place on a rack, give them a generous sprinkle of salt, and glaze. Plate up on your favourite platter, and serve with your guac whilst hot!