Drunken Pork Tummy

This recipe for beer steamed pork belly was created when I found a few cans of lager in my fridge that someone had brought over and left. Basically I didn’t want to drink it (I think it was Toohey’s Red) and started thinking of ways to cook with it.

This just worked. I’ve made it a number of times since and never really adjusted the ingredients (other than the type of beer used. More on that later)…

The best thing? It’s one of those meals that couldn’t be easier to make, but looks (and tastes) really flash. That I like!

Okay here’s what you’ll need –

·        1kg (approx) slab of pork belly

·        1 can/bottle of light coloured beer (lager, pale, pilsner)

·        3 or 4 garlic cloves

·        Tablespoon fennel seeds

·        Teaspoon of Chinese five spice

·        ½ teaspoon of cinnamon

·        Olive oil

·        Salt

Dipping Sauce –

·        Dijon Mustard

·        Honey

·        Light Soy Sauce

Prepare the pork belly by rubbing the fat/skin with some paper towel to remove any moisture, and then rub in with your hand a few good dollops of olive oil. Then cover the skin with a healthy (I mean unhealthy) amount of salt. Make sure all the skin is covered.

Heat a bit of olive oil in a fry pan (enough so the pork doesn’t stick) and fry the pork (skin side down) for 2 or 3 minutes. Stand back cos the pork will crackle and spit like a cut snake. This should give the skin a slightly crisp look about it. Remove from fry pan and set aside.

Take a roasting tray that’s at least a few inches deep and pour in the beer, fennel seeds, Chinese five spice, cinnamon and the garlic (simply smack the cloves with your hand or base of a knife and throw them in skin and all).

Place a roasting rack in the centre of the tray and sit the pork on the rack (skin side up). The pork should be sitting just above the beer but not submerged in it. You can add more beer if the tide looks a long way out, as long as piggy isn’t wet. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the skin (don’t touch it unless you want 3^rd degree burns) and crack a tiny bit more salt over the skin as you would have lost some in the fry pan.

Pre-heat oven to 250 degrees centigrade and cook uncovered for 30 mins. Then reduce to 200 degrees and cook for a further 1.5 hours.

After 2 hours in the oven the pork flesh should be light brown in colour and juicy/tender, and the skin hard and crackly.

Whilst the pork belly cooks make sure you prepare the dipping sauce. Quantities will depend on how many are eating the dish but you’re basically looking at a mix of half Dijon mustard, half honey (couple of tablespoons of each) and a small dash of soy sauce.

Now whilst that’s cooking lets talk briefly about the beer. As I said, I’ve tried this with cheap run of the mill lager, home brew (pilsner, lager) or a more hop driven pale ale. Any difference can’t really be noticed which is very handy when looking through the bar fridge last minute to make it. Remember that the pork is only steamed by the beer rather than cooked in it so using different beer styles is not going to dramatically affect the finished product.

Cut into equal portions and serve with the honey mustard dipping sauce, oven roasted rosemary potatoes and green beans…or whatever the heck you like!

Whilst wine is traditionally the drink of choice when it comes to cooking with alcohol, there’s many things you can do with beer in the kitchen…whether you even like beer, or simply don’t want to drink a particular beer stuck up the back of your fridge!

Stay tuned for future instalments of Short & Stout Slurrings…which you never know, might even include other original recipes using beer!

Till then,

Cheers!…Prost!...Salute!...Kampai!