Looking for brunch? Italian? Dessert? A side dish for a party? Whatever you have in mind, we have a recipe for it and every week we select one delicious dish for you to try yourself.
Since being on My Kitchen Rules South Africa #MKRSA my love for food has been reignited and my love for sharing good food, even more so.
I have added a recipe section to GoodThingsGuy where I will be bringing you delicious recipes to try for yourself!
Today, we’re featuring the Smoked Pork Belly on a bed of honeyed cabbage and apple puree, topped with dark beer cherry sauce featured in our “instant restaurant” on the show.
The dish was really well received by the Judges, who loved it and complimented us on the technique and the sauce. It was the second highest scoring dish from the Judges and the majority of the contestants also loved it.
Hope you enjoy it. It’s so much fun to make (especially the cracking).
For the Pork Belly
- 2 kg Pork Belly – Deboned
- 1 pack Hickory Wood Chips
- 340 ml Apple Cider
- 1 Bunch Sage
- 6 cups Chicken Stock
- 6 cups Vegetable Stock
- 120ml Olive Oil
- 3 Large Onions
For the Honeyed Cabbage
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Pepper
- 3 Cup Chicken Stock
- 2 Large Red Cabbage
- 150ml Sherry Wine Vinegar
- 100ml Honey
For the Apple Puree
- 8 Apples – Granny Smith
- 200ml Water
- 70 gsm Butter
- 30gsm Apple Cider Vinegar
For the Dark Beer Cherry Sauce
- 2 Large Onions
- 120ml Honey
- 120ml Sherry Wine Vinegar
- 1 Can Kilkenny Beer
- 2 cups Tinned Cherries
- 4 cups Chicken Stock
- 4 cups Vegetable Stock
- 1 Bunch Sage
- 50ml Corn Flour
Method
The seasoned Pork Belly is sealed in a hot pan, before being smoked in a weber for 20 minutes using hickory chips then placed in a pressure cooker with the sage, stock, onions and cider.
Take out and remove the skin. Set aside.
Wrap pork belly in cling foil, put in fridge with weighted container to compress until set.
Apples are peeled cored, and cooked before being baked with salt and water until soft before being pureed whilse slowly adding the vinegar.
Red Cabbage is shredded and reduced down with 2 parts honey to one part sherry vinegar until gooey in texture and the cooked rice added.
Dark beer sauce is made by placing honey and onions in a pot with the sage, and slowly heated until the honey browns, before adding the sherry vinegar and reducing by half. Then a tin of dark creamed beer (Kilkenny or similar) is added with the Cherries and Stock and the sauce is allowed to reduce again and thickened with Corn Flour to desired consistency.
Before serving the Pork Belly is removed from the fridge and seared in a hot skillet for texture and final colouring before baking in the oven until heated through, salt and deep fry the skin to a crisp.
The dish can also be served with baby carrots, brussel sprouts and summer greens.
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