Bill Granger's sticky chilli pork belly with barbecue sauce
Prep 25 mins (plus freezing, chilling)
Cook 2 hrs
Serves 4
Difficulty 3
“Pork belly has been the dish of the past decade,” says Bill Granger. “The secret is in slow cooking: you want to render all the fat out of the pork belly before barbecuing it to irresistible stickiness. Serve the pork belly with lettuce leaves to wrap it up in – a great barbecue tip that saves on cutlery!”
Light-flavoured oil
600g pork belly, bone removed, cut into 3cm cubes
1 litre beef stock
1 small red chilli
5 garlic cloves, peeled, left whole and lightly crushed
10cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
2 spring onions, roughly chopped
1 tbsp Chinese five-spice
125ml light soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
125ml Shaoxing wine (Chinese cooking wine)
2 tbsp caster sugar
BARBECUE SAUCE
4 tbsp Korean chilli bean paste (gochujang; see note)
2 tbsp runny honey
2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp light-flavoured oil
SALAD DRESSING
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 ½ tbsp sesame oil
TO SERVE
Crisp lettuce leaves
4 tbsp roasted peanuts
4 tbsp crisp shallots
1 bunch each coriander and mint
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1. Heat a large saucepan over medium–high heat. Drizzle a little oil into the pan and sear the pork belly on all sides until browned. Add the stock, chilli, garlic, ginger, spring onion, five-spice, soy sauce, oyster sauce, wine and sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a high simmer and cover the pan with a lid.
2. Simmer the pork for 1 hour, then remove the lid and simmer for 30–45 minutes until the stock has completely reduced and is sticking to the meat, and the fat is starting to separate.
3. Meanwhile, to make the barbecue sauce, stir together all the ingredients in a bowl.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the salad dressing and set aside.
5. Remove the pork from the heat and stir into the barbecue sauce, thoroughly coating the pieces of pork belly.
6. Heat your barbecue until hot and ready to cook on. Chargrill the pork belly pieces on all sides until caramelised and just starting to char, brushing with extra sauce from the pan as you turn them.
Serve on a platter, with the lettuce, peanuts, crispy shallots, herbs and spring onions scattered over the top. Spoon the salad dressing over to serve.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
N O T E
Gochujang is available from Asian supermarkets.
This recipe has been extracted with permission from Australian Food by Bill Granger, photography by Mikkel Vang. Murdoch Books RRP $49.99.
