Frankjr's Recipe

JERK-SPICED PORCHETTA

Category: Recipes

1 large piece of skin-on pork belly, 12″ x 9″/ 31 cm x 23 cm (approx 1.85 kg/65 oz)
Jamaican jerk-spice mixture: adapted from many recipes combined
10 (3.5 oz/100 grams) long Asian green chilis, or equivalent weight of jalapeño
6 (2.5 oz/70 grams) large green scallions, or 10 thin ones
7 cloves of garlic
1/2 of an onion
3 tbsp (1.8 oz/50 grams, approx 3″ or 8 cm) of ginger
1 tbsp (10 sprigs) of fresh thyme leaves
2 tsp of ground allspice
3/4 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 tsp of ground coriander
1/2 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp (or 4 whole) of ground cloves
3 tsp of salt
1 1/2 tsp of freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp of sugar
2 tsp of soy sauce
2 tsp of malt vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup of coconut milk for brushing
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper for sprinkling
Wedges of lime to serve

Prepare the jerk-spice
Leave the skin on the garlic cloves. Peel and cut the ginger into large pieces. Peel the onion and trim off the ends, as well as for scallions. Turn the gas-stove on medium-high flame, and toast green chilis (or jalapeno), garlic cloves, onion, ginger and scallions until the surfaces (approx 50 %) are slightly charred (this creates flavor as well as removing some excess moisture). Scrape off some of the charred skin from the green chilis and peel the garlic cloves. Then place ALL of the ingredients in Jamaican jerk-spice mixture into a blender, and puree until smooth.

Marinate the pork belly:
Place the pork belly skin-side down. WITHOUT BREAKING the skin, make deep scores of the meat-side with a sharp knife in both direction. Place pork belly in a large bowl and rub the jerk-mixture (all of it) all over the pork belly, into EVERY nooks and crannies. Wrap with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge. (30 min)

Take the pork belly out of the fridge and let it continue to marinate under room-temperature for another 2 hours (so the pork isn’t cold before going into the oven).

Tie and roast the pork belly:
Preheat the oven on 230ºF/110ºC.

Take the pork belly out of the bowl and remove as much of the jerk-spice mixture as you can from the SKIN-SIDE. Lay the pork belly SKIN-SIDE down on the board, and collect all the jerk-spice mixture and spread it evenly over the meat-side, pressing it into the scores of the meat. Roll the pork belly, from the shorter side to the other, into a log, just tightly enough without forcing out all the jerk-mixture. With a butcher’s twine (don’t worry about the string not being long enough in the beginner because you can tie/connect another string if needed), tie a knot on one end of the log about 1″ away from the edge. Follow the step on duck prosciutto post about how to continue. Every loop should be about 1″ or 3 cm apart. Then roll the entire pork belly/log in aluminium foil, then make several holes through the foil on the side that’s FACING DOWN (for liquid to drain during cooking).

Place the pork belly on top of a rack over a roasting pan, then onto the middle-rack of the oven. Then you forget about it.

8 to 9 hours later. Take the roasting pan out of the oven. Insert a meat-thermometer into the center of the pork belly (without removing the foil), and the internal temperature should read around 180ºF ~ 190ºF/82ºF ~ 88ºC. Turn off the oven and leave the pork belly wrapped in foil under room temperature until the big finale, then go on with your day.

1 hour before serving): Preheat the oven on 500ºF/250ºC. Once the temperature is reached, switch to medium-heat top-broiler.

Remove the foil from the pork belly (it may stick a little on the skin). Scatter a few pieces of onions or carrots on the bottom of the roasting pan to prevent smoking, then place the pork belly back onto the rack over the pan. Position the pork belly PRESENTATION-SIDE DOWN first, and brush the skin with coconut milk and sprinkle GENEROUSLY with fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast in the oven on middle-rack until the skin starts to brown and blister slightly, approx 20 ~ 25 min. Flip the pork belly over, now the PRESENTATION-SIDE UP, brush with more coconut milk and salt’n pepper, and continue to roast until browned and blistered, another 20 ~ 25 min. OR. You can even do this in a large skillet. Heat up a bit of oil over medium-low heat and start browning the skin. Cover the skillet with foil (to warm up the center AND prevent splattering) and turn the pork once every few minutes until blistered evenly. I prefer this way actually because it’s FASTER, more efficient blistering, but it does splatter…

Let the pork belly rest for 10 min, then remove all the butcher’s twine. If you have a blow-torch, you can now torch the part of the skin that wasn’t evenly browned/blistered in the oven. Love blow-torch.

Serve with wedges of lime (and sea salt if needed).