Rolled Roast Pork (Crunchy)

This recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens magazine (Sep 2019 issue), and was served in the Crunchy dinner.

Ingredients

• 3 kg piece of boneless, skin-on pork belly
• 2 tablespoons sea salt (plus extra)
• 4 cloves garlic
• small bunch of thyme, chopped
• 8 bay leaves
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Method

1. Preheat over to 140 degrees C (for fan-forced ovens). Season pork all over with 1 tablespoon of salt. Keep salted pork covered, and chill in fridge up to 40 hours.
2. Crush garlic, thyme, and bay leaves together in a mortar and pestle to make a paste. Mix with remaining salt and pepper.
3. Boil water, and lay pork skin-side down on a chopping board, then score deep criss-cross pattern all over. Pour boiling water over scored skin then dry thoroughly. Massage herb seasoning into the flesh-side.
4. Starting from longest side, roll pork belly up tightly, then secure with twine at regular 2cm intervals to hold it together.
5. Place wire rack or trivet in a large roasting dish and sit pork on top. Massage or brush pork skin with oil and give final sprinkling of extra salt. Roast for 3 hours, basting with pan juices every 30 minutes after the first hour.
6. Remove pork from oven, turn up heat to 220 degrees C (for fan-forced). Pour out most of the pan juices. Place pork back onto the rack and roast for a further 30-40 minutes, turning pork with tongs to expose different parks of the skin that you want to make into crackling.
7. When pork is ready, lift onto a board, and rest for 10 minutes before it is ready to carve. Slice pork with a serrated knife.