I really love pig. Well, it takes one to know one doesn’t it? There’s just something so good about melty, succulent pork meat, and nothing on earth I enjoy quite as much as the crackling fat. One of the best incarnations of pork I’ve ever had was at a sandwich store in Vancouver called Meat and Bread, which specialises in roasted porchetta (a rolled Italian pork roast) with really crackly crackling. The tender porchetta is stuffed with fragrant herbs and served on soft, pillowy ciabatta with the crackling thrown in for good measure, then drizzled with more punchy salsa verde: just unbelievable! This is my version, and it’s something I hope you’ll love as much as I do (if you have leftovers, it’s perfect cold in sandwiches).
To ensure really crackly crackling, I poach the pork belly in bicarbonate of soda and hot water first (a trick taught to me by my friend and fellow cook Uyen Luu, which guarantees great crackling) and then infuse it with herbs and spices for at least 12 hours, so you need to start preparing the dish the day before you cook it.