Slow Cooked Pork Belly

Serves 4

Ingredients
1kg belly pork, preferably with the bone still intact
2 carrots
1 stick celery
½ onion
3 cloves garlic
Fennel stalks (from 2 bulbs)
1 leek
330ml beer
1 tin chopped tomatoes
½ chicken stock cube
300ml water
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs rosemary
For the dry marinade
1dsp chopped oregano
1dsp chopped parsley
1dsp chopped rosemary
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 heaped tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C. 
   Par-cooking tip
2. Score the skin of the belly pork with a series of criss-cross diagonal slashes. You will need an extremely sharp knife.
3. Combine all the dry marinade ingredients and rub into the slashed surface of the skin - as if you're giving a massage. Chop all the remaining vegetables and put in the bottom of a roasting tin, big enough to accommodate the belly pork. Place the belly pork on the veg and pour in the beer and the tinned tomatoes.
4. Dissolve the stock cube in the boiling water and to the tray until it comes about 2/3 of the way up the side of the meat. Add the herbs and put in the oven for about 4 hours.
5. Remove from the oven and set aside to rest for no less than 15 minutes - this allows the meat to relax and the meat juices to flow into the sauce giving added flavour.
   
   Serve with
6. After resting, remove the belly and place on a chopping board. With a sharp knife, carefully cut the whole slab of meat away from the ribs. Then pull and cut away the crackling and set aside for garnish. If the crackling is not crispy enough, just turn the oven up to 200°C and put it back in the oven for about 10 minutes (after separating it from the meat).
7. Carve the meat into approximately 1½ cm slices - you'll need a really sharp knife but don't worry if the meat falls apart a little - this is all about flavour, not fancy presentation