Roasted Pork Belly with Plum Rhubarb Sauce

Roasted Pork Belly with Plum Rhubarb Sauce

1 bunch roughly chopped thyme

1 bunch roughly chopped rosemary

5 cloves of garlic, diced

100 ml olive oil

2 to 3 lbs pork belly, skin on 

2 cups (plus extra, as needed) dry white wine

Preheat your oven to 375. While the oven is warming up, mix the thyme, rosemary, garlic and olive oil to form a loose-paste consistency. Using a sharp knife, cut a shallow cross-hatch pattern on the skin side of the pork belly (this will create that great, crunchy cracklin' on top that everyone loves!). Flip the belly over and rub three quarters of your herb mixture on the non-skin side. Place the belly, skin-side up, in a roasting pan or pyrex/glass dish and pat the skin dry (again, helping it along to becoming lovely and crisp). Evenly distribute a few shakes of salt and pepper over the top of the meat. Pop your pork belly into the oven and bake for 1 hour, rotating the pan halfway through. Combine the remaining quarter of your herb mix with 1 cup of white wine and, after the first hour of cooking, pour it in the bottom of the pan. Continue roasting for 1 1/2  - 2 hours more, per your tastes, adding more wine to the pan as the liquids begin to evaporate (I wound up using about 2 1/2 cups total for 2.5 lbs of meat). Slice and serve on toasted bread with the following sauce:

1 red chili, halved and seeded

1 cinnamon stick

100 ml balsamic vinegar

100 g brown sugar

3 stalks of medium-length rhubarb, cut into 1/4 inch bits

5 medium size plums (cherries, strawberries or apricots would work as well)

1 small knob of ginger (a little smaller than a golf ball), peeled and diced

Place all ingredients in a pot on low to medium heat and allow to simmer and thicken for about 20 minutes. Consistency will look like almost like a jam, particularly as it cools. Remove the chili halves and the cinnamon stick before serving. Chow down, share with friends, and soak up the well-deserved, porky praise.