Weekend Recipe: Richard H. Turner’s Sticky Toffee Pork

I enjoyed a dish called sticky toffee pork in Hong Kong, but unfortunately I couldn’t discern the ingredients and my Cantonese is non-existent. Having played around with a similar preparation and using some classic sticky toffee ingredients, I came up with this – it’s not identical to what I had but very much alike and tasty nonetheless.

20g Maldon sea salt flakes
1kg pork belly, bone in
2 litres Pork Broth
½ teaspoon Chinese
five-spice powder
2 fresh chillies, chopped
heaped ¼ teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
100ml blackstrap molasses
100ml light soy sauce
100g dates, stoned and chopped
100g light brown muscovado sugar
100g dark brown muscovado sugar

To serve
bok choy
steamed rice

Generously salt the pork belly, leave uncovered for 1 hour, then rinse. Place in a large saucepan and cover with the pork broth. Add the rest of the ingredients.

Bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer. Place a plate or small saucepan lid directly on the pork belly to keep it submerged. Cook at the barest simmer for about 2 hours. When you can pass a skewer through the belly with ease, it is ready.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.

Take care when removing the pork belly from the stock. Place it on a chopping board and remove the bones and sinews (they should pop out of the tender meat).

Score the skin slightly in a chequered pattern. Place on greaseproof paper on a baking tray and roast for about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, strain the reserved stock into a saucepan and reduce it until a nice coating consistency is achieved, like a light syrup.

Serve the pork with wilted bok choy and steamed rice, with the sauce drizzled over.

Recipe taken from Hog by Richard H. Turner available here.