Epic Food Adventure: Roast Belly of Pork
The Gribbler's Bottom
Tee hee – I wondered how long it would be before I managed to get my boyfriend’s bottom on the internet. What I was in fact trying (/failing) to photograph, was his favourite Sainsbury’s shopping bag which has a peacock on it and says, oh-so-modestly ‘I am naturally handsome’. Ne’er was a truer word said, m’darl’…
It’s no secret that the way to this particular girl’s heart is, clearly, through her stomach, and The Gribbler is pretty darn nifty in the kitchen. He likes kind of old school, quite epic meals (see our previous chutney escapade, and have a guess at whose idea that was…), and is particularly fond of what I call ‘Grr Man Food’. i.e. generally quite filling meaty options (though I should add that he’s also a dab hand with fish). He revels in an unashamed devotion to Rowley Leigh, the Sunday Financial Times’ chef. So when I heard an excited and triumphant yell from the Sunday pages, and saw his two favourite (culinary) things combined in Rowley Leigh + a Belly of Pork recipe, I knew we were gearing up for one of our Epic Food Adventures.
And so, before we cast off the shackles of that long hard winter for good, and frolic off into the hills with salad stuff and lighter bits, over these next few days I’ll gently feed you a handful of remaining ‘winteresque’ food escapades that are still mere scribbles in my notebook.
The Gribbler was clutching his list of ingredients (+ bag, we mustn’t forget that), and trailing three women (me, plus the two bibblers), as we set off into grey drizzle and a, thankfully covered, cheerfully boisterous Borough Market. Earlybird bonus – much more of a likelihood with 7am alarm clocks/children! – and it has not yet become the broiling, seething mass of food tourists of my previous visits. The bibblers wandered around charming all of the various stallholders out of their wares – employing the same wide, unblinking look I used to use when I wanted food. Come to think of it, not much has change, and said look never fails to result in a steady stream of brownie, cheese, biscuit and chutney tastings. Our day, in photos:
Meat at the Ginger Pig
Pit Stop @ Konditor&Cook - we didn't last long without sugar...
The Fennel - Gribbler got very overexcited at finding this
The 'Erbs
The Star (Anise) of the Show
And then it was back to Brixton for the cooking to begin. I won’t go into all the details, as Rowley Leigh’s recipe is where you’ll find it all, but suffice to say it was a bit of an experiment, and definitely a bit of an adventure, with a cobbled together steaming device created out of too upturned roasting dishes. The theory, I believe, is that by initially steaming the pork, and THEN roasting it, the meat is left very very tender, and infused with the sweetness of the fennel and star anise, whilst the roasting makes the crackling we all know and love.
The meaty bit of the dish - see how it's upraised on its own little bed?
The tasty bits
Action shot: lemon rub - look at those hands whir!
The Veg - note wine: key ingredient in any Gribbler meal
It was a day given over to cooking – but a day well spent, as the two bibblers tucked VERY enthusiastically into their meal, making Daddy Gribbler a happy bunny. Thumbs up from the two biggest food critics, and a big thumbs up from the girlfriend. Lucky me, eh?
Le Piece de la Resistance: The Pork Belly
The Full Caboodle
