Pork belly and red cabbage

Posted by Gary

I posted “pork belly and red cabbage” on Random Yummy last week, but I wanted to do something here with a little more detail.

Oven cooked pork belly and red cabbage with butter.
Close up. Oven cooked pork belly and red cabbage with butter.
Close up. Oven cooked pork belly and red cabbage with butter.

Dedicated to friends who have kept me company on-line so I can remain socially active while being physically distant.

You know who you are

Last week I bought a large slab of pork belly because the normal pork belly strips weren’t available. I cut the slab into three equal pieces and vacuum sealed them to try to keep them as fresh as possible.

I’ve already done pork belly and red cabbage once and during the week I did pork belly and mixed vegetables.

Oven-roasted pork belly and vegetables.
Close up. Oven-roasted pork belly and vegetables.

The whole process for preparation is pretty easy and I’ve been doing this in my toaster oven.

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Recipe

It’s important to read the recipe before cooking because the timing of processes needs to be understood.

Pork belly and red cabbage in a toaster oven

Pork belly and red cabbage in a toaster oven as a ‘one-pot’ meal with very little washing up.

  • Pork belly
  • Iodised salt
  • Whole black peppercorns
  • Red cabbage
  • Queensland nut oil
  • Butter
  1. A few hours before, or better yet, the night before, unwrap the slab and with absorbent kitchen paper dry the skin of the pork.

  2. Rub some iodised salt into the skin.

  3. Put the pork on a rack or on a baking sheet and put it into the refrigerator uncovered to all the skin to dry out (dry brine).
  4. When it’s time to cook, i.e., when you know you’re going to feel hungry for pork belly soon, thinly shred some red cabbage and layout on the bottom of a baking sheet lined with baking paper.

  5. Turn the toaster oven on and rack up the heat to the highest setting.
  6. Squirt a bit of Queensland nut oil over the cabbage and then add a knob of butter.

  7. Lay a cooling rack over the baking tray and add the pork belly slab on the rack. This configuration permits rendered pork fat to assist with moisturising and lubricating the red cabbage. More importantly, it imparts porcine adipose flavours to the red cabbage which along with the butter makes this cabbage amazing.

  8. Put the pork and cabbage into the toaster oven and cook for 20 minutes.
  9. At the 20 minute mark, turn the heat down to about 180 to 200 °C and cook for a further 20 to 25 minutes.

  10. After cooking, remove the pork and cabbage and allow it to rest for about five minutes so the pork fat can continue to drip seductively into the ever absorbent cabbage.

Plating up bit

  1. Once the cooling rack is cool to touch with naked fingers, pick it up and put it on the bench and with tongs transfer the soft and delicious cabbage to a dinner plate.
  2. With tongs place the pork belly on top of the red cabbage.
  3. If you want to garnish this you can but I’m happy to get a sharp knife and just start ripping and tearing into this meal.

Blogging bit

  1. Shoot a photograph.



  2. Eat the meal.
  3. Wash the dishes (hint, wash as you cook, it makes life easier).
  4. Write the recipe.
  5. Write the blog post.
  6. Hit publish and hope this blog post gets shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.

Disclaimer I have no culinary training nor qualifications. This post is not intended to convey any health or medical advice. If you have any health concerns about anything you read, please contact your registered medical practitioner. The quantities are indicative. Feel free to vary the quantities to suit your taste. I deliberately do not calculate the energy for dishes. I deliberately default to 500 Calories or 500,000 calories because I do not make these calculations.

Photographs

This is a gallery of photographs. Click on one image and then scroll through the photographs.

Questions and answers

Did you hear/read Pete Evans got a $AUD25,000 infringement from the Therapeutics Good Administration?

Regular readers here and over at my diary blog know how much I disagree with Pete Evans and his focus on supplements complementary and alternative medicine (SCAM) services.

In particular I’ve focussed on his errors with respect to iodised salt. I’m a big believer in iodine supplementation to avoid Australia becoming a nation of cretins.

During the week, TGA issued an infringement notice.

Is it economical to buy a large slab of pork belly?

I think it is but it’s hardly healthful. I mean I’ve now eaten an entire slab, that is, more than 1 kilogram of fatty pork belly in 7 days.

Oh my heart.

Is red cabbage better?

I believe it is. I think red cabbage holds its form better than a standard drumhead. I think Chinese cabbage would be interesting especially if I’d used Chinese five-spice flavourings with some extra star anise in this meal.

An alternative approach might be to cook the pork over some rice or noodles or even pasta. Basically, anything which will absorb the porcine adipose flavours.

I wonder if someone more familiar with pasta might give me some guidance on whether a tomato or cream based sauce would be better.

Final thoughts

  • Do you like pork belly?
  • How do you feel about red cabbage?
  • Could you eat >1 kg of pork belly in one week?
  • If you cooked the pork belly over some pasta would sauce would be best? Tomato-based or cream-based?

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13 Responses

  2. This is two of my favourite ingredients in one dish! I love red cabbage (am I imagining it but it used to be a bit more bitter once upon a time ago or perhaps my taste buds have changed). Pork belly is just what I need right now!

    Reply

  3. Very nice, who doesn’t love crispy pork belly? Paired with the red cabbage this is a perfect Monday night meal; so you can have pork sandwiches on Tuesday for lunch. I am assuming Queensland nut oil is macadamia? This is pretty and very doable, thanks for sharing.

    Reply
  4. Pingback: Chef Pete Evans breached the TGA Act 1989 with a misleading claim

  6. Love pork belly but 1kg of the stuff might be a bit much… and I love red cabbage. It makes fab if messy home-made coleslaw. Your recipe looks very nice indeed I’m glad people who wickedly promote ‘cures’ for the virus are penalised, although that fine does not seem enough, does it? Still, at least he isn’t suggesting ingesting bleach… Stay safe – I hope work isn’t too stressful…

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Emma. It’s hard to believe that a national leader would say something like that.
      I shudder when I think about a gullible person buying that device and then thinking they cured and going out into the community potentially infecting others.

      Reply

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