Let the slow cooker do the hard work with this rich and flavoursome pork belly dish. Grilling at the end is optional, if you don’t want a crispy top then skip step 4 and simply remove the skin before serving in slices.
Pork belly is slowly cooked in a spiced bourbon sauce and then grilled for a crispy skin at the end!
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Yields:
4 serving(s)
Prep Time:
15 mins
Cook Time:
8 hrs 5 mins
Total Time:
8 hrs 20 mins
Cal/Serv:
547
Ingredients
2Tbsp.
oyster sauce
1Tbsp.
light soy sauce
2tsp.
dark brown soft sugar
1tsp.
Chinese five spice
200ml
bourbon whisky
600g
boneless pork belly
1Tbsp.
cornflour
For the pickled cucumber
1Tbsp.
caster sugar
2Tbsp.
white wine vinegar
1
large cucumber
Small handful dill, roughly chopped
Directions
Step 1In a small jug, mix together the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, five spice and bourbon until the sugar has dissolved.
Step 2Put the pork belly into the bowl of the slow cooker and pour over the whisky mixture. Cover and cook on low for 8hr, until very tender.
Step 3Towards the end of cooking, make the pickled cucumber. In a medium bowl mix the caster sugar, vinegar and 1tsp fine salt until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Use a y-shaped peeler to slice the cucumber into long ribbons, discarding the seedy core. Add the ribbons to the bowl, mix gently, and set aside to pickle lightly for up to 30min.
Step 4Preheat grill to high. Transfer pork from the slow cooker to a baking tray. Gently scrape off any sauce on the skin and pat skin dry with kitchen roll. Sprinkle with salt and grill briefly until blistering and browned (keeping an eye on it to watch it doesn’t catch).
Step 5Meanwhile, strain the sauce into a small pan. Remove 1tbsp sauce to a small bowl and mix with the cornflour until smooth. Whisk cornflour mixture back into the pan and bubble for 30sec, stirring constantly, or until thickened.
Step 6Drain the cucumber and stir through the dill. Serve the pork in slices with the sauce and pickled cucumber, with sticky rice and greens if you like.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
