HONEYED PINK SALT & FENNEL PORK BELLY WITH BLISTERED RED ONIONS

- METHOD -

Get your butcher to score the skin of the pork belly into thin strips or a diamond pattern. (Hot tip: If you prefer to do it yourself, an NT cutter works very well.) Mix together the Cape Herb & Spice Himalayan Pink Salt, fennel and Cape Herb & Spice Ghost Chilli Seasoning. Rub it into the pork flesh. Drizzle the skin with olive oil, place on your kettle braai grid, put the lid on and walk away. Its that simple! (Note: you need to use the indirect cooking method utilising kettle braai baskets containing charcoal on either side of the meat.)

The meat should be succulently juicy in 60-80 minutes. The safest way to tell if it is done to perfection is to insert a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the meat after 60 minutes. If it’s 60 ˚C inside, it’s ready for the next stage. Now turn the meat over so the skin side is facing down. Add the rosemary to the honey and blitz it in the microwave for 20 seconds until bubblingly hot, then paint the flesh of the pork with the rosemary honey. Leave it on the braai for another minute or two and remove. Allow the meat to rest for a good 10 minutes before you carve it. Pop the whole red onions onto the braai grid directly over the coals for the last 30 minutes of cooking to ensure that they are done at the same time as the belly. Serve with some of that Pink Salt, fennel and Ghost Chilli seasoning at the table so folks can add a pinch more salt if they want to.

Recipe concept & photography by Lizet Hartley.

Lizet Hartley is a freelance stills and reel food stylist, food photographer and recipe developer. In her spare time she – rather predictably – cooks. Get more of her recipes on her blog at http://www.melkkos-merlot.co.za