AirFryday: Pork belly and crackling with fennel, apple and mustard

When my big 25-litre air fryer oven landed in my kitchen, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I put a hefty slab of pork belly in it to see how it would come out.

I reckoned that the size of this machine – big for an air fryer, but small compared with a regular oven – could be perfect for pork belly. And it is. Its confinement means the heat is near the pan, and precise, so I was able to cook it at 160°C for two-and-a-half hours before blasting it at 230°C for 10 minutes to turn the skin into perfectly crunchy crackling.

I made a small error, and it is one that makes a valuable difference; I forgot to prick the skin all over before cooking it. I’ll include this in the method below, so that you don’t forget too. It prevents blistering while the intense heat above the joint is creating that beautiful crackling.

Another method is to salt the scored skin generously, rubbing the salt in, which draws moisture out. I did score the skin, which is important, and I salted it as well.

There are various approaches to heat and timing when roasting a slab of pork belly, and I have done them all. Generally, these are the options:

• High heat for 15 minutes or so, then a low heat for a couple of hours, then high heat again to finish off the crackling;
• High heat for 15 to 20 minutes for the crackling to get a good start, then low heat, followed by an optional second round of intense heat if, by then, the crackling has not cooked to crunchy perfection; or
• Low heat for 2 to 3 hours, then intense heat for 10 to 20 minutes or, in a large old oven, even as much as half an hour. This will depend on the individual oven, as they all behave differently.

Because mine is a large air fryer oven, I decided to use the third option, cooking it at 160°C for two-and-a-half hours. Then I switched the temperature up to 230°C and, because this oven is relatively small compared with a regular large oven, 10 minutes was all that was needed for that skin to achieve a perfect crunch.

And this was just the kind of crunchiness I look for in pork crackling: a “soft” crunch, rather than that tooth-cracking hardness crackling often has.

Tony’s pork belly and crackling with fennel, apple and mustard

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

1 x 3kg slab of pork belly

Salt and black pepper

8 (or so) baby fennel bulbs, whole or halved lengthwise

1 green apple, peeled and sliced into slim wedges

For the baste:

⅓ cup apple juice

2 Tbsp hot mustard

2 Tbsp raw honey

2 Tbsp Mrs HS Ball’s chutney

Salt and black pepper to taste

Oil for greasing the base and sides of the pan or heatproof glass oven dish

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Oil the base and sides of the metal or heatproof glass oven dish (I used a square Pyrex dish for which the belly was a perfect fit.) The dish needs to be quite deep.

In a bowl, mix the apple juice, mustard, honey and chutney. Season with salt and black pepper and stir.

Using the tip of a small, sharp knife, jab many holes all over the pork belly skin.

Score the rind in strips or into a diamond pattern, using a sharp knife. Do not puncture the meat, only the skin and fat.

Salt the meaty sides of the joint, then salt the skin, rubbing it in.

Brush the baste on the underside and sides of the meat, but not on the skin.

Place the baby fennel bulbs and apple slices in the base of the pan, and pour the remaining baste over them.

Place the meat on top.

Roast for two-and-a-half hours at 160°C, then turn the heat up to 230°C and cook until the skin turns to the kind of crackling you like.

Serve with crunchy potatoes such as this potato and onion recipe which goes with pork as well as it does with steak. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the Year award.

Follow Tony Jackman on Instagram @tony_jackman_cooks.