When it comes to the sauce, you may ask, “Why reduce the cider? Why reduce the apple juice?” The reason I reduce them is to intensify the flavour. By the way, this sauce also goes very well with roast pheasant or chicken.
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 160˚C.
2. Add the olive oil to a cold, large, ovenproof, heavy-based frying pan.
3. If the skin-side of the belly pork has not already been scored, do so with a sharp knife. This helps to release the fat and get the best crackling.
4. Add the belly pork to the pan, skin-side down. Start to heat the pan, slowly increasing the heat, cooking the pork for around 5– 10 minutes, so that the fat from the pork begins to come out.
5. Turn the pork over in the pan so it cooks on the other side briefly, then transfer it from the pan to the pre-heated oven.
6. Roast for 90 minutes, until the pork has cooked through and the crackling is golden brown and crispy. If the crackling has not crisped through, heat the grill in the oven and grill the pork for 5 minutes.
7. Remove the pork from the oven and rest in a warm place.
8. To prepare the cider cream sauce, heat a heavy-based frying pan, add in the cider, bring to the boil and cook until reduced by half and syrupy. Be very careful here not to let the cider caramelise; you want a syrup, not a caramel. Add in the apple juice, bring to the boil and again cook until reduced to a syrup.
9. Pour in the double cream and mix well. Season the sauce to taste by crumbling in ¼ of the Knorr Pork Stock Cube and add a dash of Calvados if using.
10. Bring the sauce to the boil, then reduce the heat so that it simmers for about a minute.
11. Once the pork has rested, cut into slices and place on a serving platter. Spoon the sauce over and around the pork, and serve at once.
12. For a healthier option, grill pork chops until cooked through and serve with the cider cream sauce.
