Pork belly with burnt pear and nutmeg

Serves 4 Starters and mains

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Method

Score the skin of the pork belly with shallow cuts 5mm apart (make sure you don’t cut right through to the flesh – about 3mm depth is ideal). Grate half the nutmeg into a bowl, add the rock salt, 6 sprigs of the thyme and the sugar, mix to combine, then rub it over the pork belly skin. Cover and chill in the fridge for at least 12 hours (up to 24 hours).

Thoroughly rinse the salt mix off the pork under cold running water then pat it dry with kitchen paper.

Preheat the oven to 150C/ 300F/Gas 2. Put the onions, finely sliced pears, remaining thyme, cloves and the chicken stock in a large roasting dish and grate over the remaining nutmeg. Place the pork belly on top, skin side up, cover with foil and place in the oven for 3 hours. For the last hour, brush the whole pears with the maple syrup or honey, place them in a small ovenproof dish and put them in the oven, too.

Remove the pork dish and the pears from the oven. Gently place the pork on a baking tray. Remove the thyme sprigs and cloves and discard, then blitz everything else in a blender, including the cooking juices. Keep warm.

Turn your oven to a medium grill setting (or preheat a separate grill to medium). Put the pork belly in the roasting tray and put the tray on a shelf about 15cm away from the grill. Place the roasted pears on the shelf, too, and grill slowly until the crackling crisps up – this should take about 15-20 minutes.

When the belly has crisped up, remove it from the grill and loosely cover with foil. Remove the baked pears, carefully cut them in half lengthways. Place them directly under the grill cut side up, until they begin to blacken, then remove. Carve the rested pork belly and serve with the sauce and the burnt pears.