Use strong honey, such as manuka, so the flavour permeates this rich and sticky pork dish. To make it easier to carve, ask your butcher to remove the bone from the pork.

Words: Anna Tait-Jamieson  Photos: Stephen Laplant

INGREDIENTS

1kg piece of pork belly (weight without bone)
2 tablespoons manuka honey
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon oil
4 whole star anise
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

METHOD

1. Score pork skin with a craft knife so that the fat is sliced into 1cm-wide strips.

2. Heat together honey, soy, vinegar, oil, star anise and garlic.

3. Sit the pork flesh-side down in the marinade without getting the mixture on the skin. Marinate for 1-2 hours.

4. Preheat oven to 180°C. Put pork on a rack, salt the skin and place in a roasting pan. Drain any excess marinade into pan and add water so the base of the pan is covered to a depth of 1cm. Roast pork for 1 1/4 hours, then baste the skin with juices, adding a little more water if necessary to prevent burning. Continue roasting for another 15 minutes or until the meat is cooked through and the skin has darkened. Set the crackling under a hot grill to blister – watch carefully so that it doesn’t burn.

5. Rest meat for a few minutes before carving into slices to serve. Drizzle with pan juices. Accompany with rice.

Serves 6.

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