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

Gastrology bloggers tried the pork belly courtesy of Murray Valley Pork.

Nothing is more festive than a juicy piece of pork belly with the perfect crackling. To ring in the new year and celebrate what has passed and all that is to come, we decided to have a go at Gordon Ramsay's Pressed Pork Belly recipe.

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

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160c (fan forced, add 20c if the oven is not fan forced)
2. Score the pork belly.
3. Season the pork belly generously with salt, pepper and olive oil.
4. Place the garlic in a roasting pan and the thyme on top of the garlic. Place the pork belly on top of the thyme.
5. Cook the pork belly for 2 hours. 
6. When done, remove and set aside to rest.
7. Place the roasting pan over the stove top (be careful as the pan will still be hot. 
8. Deglaze the roasting pan with a generous splash of white wine and allow to reduce by for around 2 to 3 minutes. 
9. 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
10. Place the pork on a tray and place another tray on top of the pork belly. 
11. 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.
12. When the pork is ready, pre-heat the oven to 240c (fan forced). 
13. Slice the belly of pork into 4 to 6 portions of smaller squares and cook for around 15 minutes until the skin crisps. 
14. 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.

Get your hands on some Murray Valley Pork -> Find your nearest stockist here!

Or if you would like to find other porky recipe ideas, check out our posts about Murray Valley Pork's Topside mole here and Murray Valley Pork's Half Netted Shoulder Roast here.