Hoisin Pork Belly

Ingredients

• 400 g high fat pork belly (no skin)
• 1 large thumb ginger
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 scotch bonnet chilli
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 spring onion

Method

Cut the pork belly into 2 cm cubes, keeping the fat attached. The high ratio of rendered fat to meat is non-negotiable here — it's your cooking medium and your sauce base.

Place the cubes fattiest side down in a cold, dry pan, then set the heat to its lowest setting. Crowd them in; they should cover the pan surface entirely. This forces them to render slowly and evenly rather than fry. Cover with a lid. Over the next 50–70 minutes, the rendering will accelerate. You're looking for the pork to turn golden at the edges and the fat to become translucent and liquid. Turn the pieces every 12–15 minutes. The surface should develop a pale golden crust — not mahogany, not dark brown. If it's darkening fast, your heat is too high; turn it down. When a cube breaks apart easily under gentle pressure, you're done. The fat should feel silky, not grainy.

Decant the pork into a bowl. Pour off roughly half the rendered fat and reserve it for stock-making or other cooking. Leave the pork sitting in the remaining fat — this is braising fat, and it's flavoured now.

Finely dice the ginger and chilli. Smash the garlic cloves (no need to peel). Sauté these three in the fat still in the pan over low heat until they soften and release their aromatics — about 3 minutes. You'll smell the sharpness of ginger flatten and the garlic turn sweet. Add the ketchup, hoisin, and honey. The ketchup and honey both contain reducing sugars; combined with the salt in hoisin, they'll form a low-and-slow glaze as water evaporates. Stir occasionally over the lowest heat for 5–8 minutes until the sauce darkens slightly and coats the back of a spoon without running off immediately. This matters — a thin sauce drowns the pork.

Return the pork to the pan. Stir to coat, then leave it to sit off the heat for 3–4 minutes. The residual heat finishes the binding without breaking down the pork further. Taste, adjust salt or acid (a few drops of soy if it needs depth). Scatter the spring onion over the top raw — its sharpness cuts the richness. Serve with steamed jasmine rice and a side of something green and bitter.