Sous Vide Pork Belly | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Sous Vide Pork Belly, Pea Tartare and Onions

COOK TIME: 12 hours
PREP TIME: 48 hours
DIFFICULTY: Difficult
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

1kg pork belly, deboned
salt

Dijon Dressing

1 tbsp of Dijon mustard
100ml of white wine vinegar
100ml of sunflower oil

Roscoff Onions

3 Roscoff onions, small
1 knob of butter
1 pinch of salt

Shallot Rings

1 banana shallot, peeled
panko breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
flour
sunflower oil, for deep frying

Grelot Onions

1 bunch of grelot onions
50ml of water
250g of salted butter

Pea Tartare

100g of peas, raw, podded
1 banana shallot, brunoise
1 tsp gherkins, brunoise

Equipment

EQUIPMENT

Method

Recipe courtesy of Paul Foster from www.greatbritishchefs.com

METHOD

Spread a light covering of salt over the flesh side of the pork and chill in the fridge for 24 hours.
When the meat is coming to the end of its chilling time, preheat the water bath to a temperature of 75⁰C.
Take the pork out of the fridge and rinse thoroughly in cold water to remove the salt. Pat dry with kitchen paper and seal inside a vacuum bag. Use a chamber sealer to do this. Place the bag in the water bath and leave to cook for 12 hours.
Transfer the pork from the vacuum bag to a tray. Rest another tray on top, ensuring that it completely covers the meat. Weigh down the upper tray with some heavy weights and leave in the fridge for 12 hours to press and set the meat.
To make the Dijon dressing, mix together the mustard, vinegar and sunflower oil in a bowl, whisking thoroughly to combine.
Next, prepare the Roscoff onions. Begin by halving the onions, then use a blowtorch to char the pieces.
Season the charred onion halves with the salt and, using a chamber sealer, seal them inside a vacuum bag with the butter. Microwave the bag on full power for 3-4 minutes. The larger the onions, the longer they will need. Once the onions have cooked, remove them from the microwave and set aside to cool.
Preheat the deep-fryer to a temperature of 180⁰C.
To make the shallot rings, use a mandoline to cut the shallot into fine slices. Make sure that you cut horizontally so that the rings remain intact. Separate the slices into rings and coat first with flour, then with beaten egg and finally with panko breadcrumbs. Deep-fry until crisp and golden.
For the grelot onions, heat the water and the butter together in a saucepan until boiling and fully emulsified. Add the grelot onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.
To prepare the pea tartare, pod the peas and remove their skins. Finely slice the shallot and chop the gherkins. When you are ready to serve, mix the peas with some of the sliced shallot, the chopped gherkins and the Dijon dressing.

To finish

Remove the pork belly from the fridge and carve into thick slices. Trim off and discard the skin. Heat some oil in a frying pan, add the pork slices and fry until golden brown and warmed through.
Separate the layers of the halved Roscoff onions and, just before serving, add them to the butter emulsion containing the grelot onions. Cook until heated through.
To serve, position one slice of pork in the middle of each plate. Scatter the pea tartare and the grelot and Roscoff onions around the meat and top with the crispy shallot rings.

Back to Recipes

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

...