Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly

Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table

There is nothing like using totally authentic ingredients in your cooking and this one comes with a hallmark of quality. The key ingredient is Sichaun pepper. It is not actually pepper, but the dried red-brown berries of a type of ash tree that have a lemony, peppery aroma.

In their raw state look like pink flowerbuds and numb your tongue if youre daft enough to lick them. But once theyre cooked down they become very soft and fragrant and impart a delicate background heat, though the more you use, the hotter your dish will be.

Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table

My pepper comes courtesy of Helena, who works part-time in my local pub. She recently came back from a month-long visit to see her boyfriend in China and was kind enough to remember my request to bring something authentic back with her for me to cook. She didnt let me down. These peppercorns are a revelation.

Ive cooked this pork belly in the slow cooker with a simple Sichuan peppercorn and miso paste rub. You dont need salt as the miso is salty enough. To finish, make an aromatic gravy from the resulting stock and a swirl of honey and serve with spiced apples and potato and leek mash.

1kg pork belly
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns
2 tbsp miso paste (I used paste from a miso soup sachet)
1 tbsp honey

For the spiced apple sauce

Knob of butter
2 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and diced
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp Chinese 5-Spice powder
1 tsp sugar
Half tsp salt

Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table

1. With a sharp knife, score the pork skin and rub the pepper and miso paste deep into the slashes. Fill a slow cooker (or casserole dish) to 2 cm deep with water, then add the pork. If using a slow cooker, cook on LOW for 5-6 hours until the pork is very tender. If using a casserole dish, cook in a 160C/Gas 2 oven for 2-3 hours.  Once cooked, remove the pork and transfer to a plate.

Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table

2. Drain the stock through a sieve into a bowl or jar and put in the fridge until the fat comes to the surface, which makes it easier to skim off.  Once skimmed, transfer to a small saucepan, add the honey and bring to the boil and reduce to desired consistency. If you like your sauce thicker, add 1 tsp cornflour mixed into a paste with a little water.

3.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4. Scrape the soft peppercorns from the surface of the skin and using a sharp knife, remove the skin from the pork belly.  Lay the meat and the skin side-by-side on a roasting tin and cook in the oven until the top layer of fat has rendered down and the skin turns to crackling (to be honest, I misjudged mine and left the skin in too long and it became a little, er, charred. Tasted lovely, though, and had a fantastic crunch).

Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table
Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table

4. Once cooked, carve into thick slices and drizzle with the peppery-honey gravy.

Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table

5. To make the spiced apple sauce, add the butter to a saucepan and melt over a low heat. Add the diced apples and a little water and gently cook for around 10 mins until the apples are soft and the water has boiled away. Youre after a chunky sauce. Add the 5-Spice powder and cinnamon stick and stir through. Cook for a further 5 mins. YOu can do this ahead of time and re-heat when youre ready.

Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table

6. Serve the lot with potato and leek mash.

Sichuan Pepper & Miso Pork Belly, Lay The Table

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