Toffee apple sauce and roast pork are a match made in heaven. Kenny Tutt explains how to make apple sauce for pork and cook tender meat with crisp crackling in this autumnal slow-roast pork belly recipe.

There are few better and more comforting things than the aroma of roasting pork in the air. For me, it's the ultimate comfort food for the autumn and winter months.

This recipe is all about slow cooking to ensure melt-in-the-mouth meat and of course that ever-sought-after crispy crackling. Reaching the right temperature after the right amount of time means delicious and foolproof results every time. 

A big helping of tart, sweet toffee apple sauce is a great condiment to cut through the soft, rich pork.

Ingredients

• Prep: 30 minutes
• Cook: 2 ½ to 3 hours
• Difficulty: Easy
• Serves: 4

For the slow-roast pork belly

• 1 pork belly, approximately 1.5-2kg
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds (optional)
• 1 tbsp coriander seeds (optional)
• 1 tsp black pepper seeds
• 3 carrots, peeled
• 2 sticks of celery
• 1 onion, peeled & quartered
• Light olive oil
• Sea salt

For the toffee apple sauce

• 2-3 Bramley apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 50g butter
• 100ml apple juice or apple cider
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ nutmeg
• Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

• Dry the skin of your pork belly by patting the skin with kitchen paper or preferably leave it overnight in the fridge uncovered.
• Preheat your oven to 160 °C/ gas mark 3. I find that not scoring the skin actually leaves you with a crisper crackling, so no need to score.
• Make a simple rub by blitzing sea salt, fennel seeds, coriander seeds and black pepper. Lightly oil the whole belly and generously season with the rub. The spices are optional, so if preferred just season well with salt and black pepper.
• Place the pork belly in a large baking tray on top of the vegetables. Try to make sure the surface is well exposed and flat to help create a crispy skin.

• Roast slowly at 160 °C. After 2 ½ hours check with your Thermapen. For tender, melt-in-the-mouth meat, you're looking for the temperature to hit around 90 °C. Pop back in the oven for longer if needed.
• Whilst the belly is roasting make the toffee apple sauce.
• Combine the chopped apple, sugar, butter, and spices in a pan with 100ml of apple juice or cider. Place in a saucepan over a medium heat and bring to a gentle simmer until all of the sugar has dissolved and the apple is nice and soft. Let the sauce cool, or blitz the mix first if you prefer a smooth sauce. This will keep really well in a sterile jar for a few weeks.

• When the pork belly has reached the perfect temperature, take it out of the oven and remove it from the vegetables. The roast vegetable base is the perfect start to a lovely pork jus. Just deglaze with white wine, add pork or chicken stock, strain and reduce.
• Turn the temperature up on your oven to 220 °C/ gas mark 7 and allow it to come to temperature. Place the pork on a baking tray in the oven for 20- 30 minutes for a lovely crunchy crackling.
• Take the belly out and allow it to rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing.
• Serve with the rich toffee apple sauce, roast potatoes or creamy mash and fresh greens. Perfect.

Kenny Tutt

Masterchef Champion 2018

"Thermapens are crucial to my cooking both at home and at my restaurant, so I'm delighted to be working on some new recipes to showcase what they can really do."