Remind me never to let Goon go shopping for me again.
I’d decided to make this meal quite some time ago as I’d found two rather large pieces of pork belly in the Tesco bargain bin for 60p! 
I’d never eaten pork belly before but I knew that losts of people absolutely love it and I’d heard it made pretty good crackling. So I thought a nice autumnal dish of crispy pork with an apple compote, juniper braised cabbage and mustard mash would go down well.
While I was heading over to Goon’s flat he rang me to see if he needed to buy anything. So I sent him to get two apples and a bottle of cider for the sauce plus some mashing potatoes. As soon as I got there I realised that the potatoes were, in fact, waxy and managed to borrow the correct version. Unfortunately I didn’t realise until much later that Goon had forgotten the apples.
So I had a choice of either:
- having no apple compote
- yelling at Goon for being a goon and sending him back to the shops.
Guess which one I went for. 
Goon returned not long after with a bag of twenty apples. I fear I will be eating apples for a long time 
The moral of this story is, when you need shopping done properly, do it yourself! Or at least avoid enlisting the help of someone incapable of memorizing a four item list. .
At least the cooking went without TOO many glitches (just one burnt finger). I prepared the pork belly by rubbing it all over with cinnamon and allspice then salting the skin and roasting it. I finished it off under the grill to get some nice crispy crackling. The apple compote was just caramelised apple stewed in cider, reduced till dry and broken up with a bit of honey and cinnamon. I served the pork with some mustard mashed potatoes and red cabbage braised with juniper.
I’m not sure why everyone raves so much about pork belly. I couldn’t help thinking of pork scratchings as I ate it. It was just a bit too fatty for my taste. I think I might try it braised at some point to see if that’s any better but, to be honest I think I prefer other more meaty joints.
Now, has anyone got any good ways to use up a lot of apples?
EDIT: Here’s what I did for the pork belly with apple compote.
Remind me never to let Goon go shopping for me again.
I’d decided to make this meal quite some time ago as I’d found two rather large pieces of pork belly in the Tesco bargain bin for 60p! I’d never eaten pork belly before but I knew that losts of people absolutely love it and I’d heard it made pretty good crackling. So I thought a nice autumnal dish of crispy pork with an apple compote, juniper braised cabbage and mustard mash would go down well.
While I was heading over to Goon’s flat he rang me to see if he needed to buy anything. So I sent him to get two apples and a bottle of cider for the sauce plus some mashing potatoes. As soon as I got there I realised that the potatoes were, in fact, waxy and managed to borrow the correct version. Unfortunately I didn’t realise until much later that Goon had forgotten the apples.
So I had a choice of either:
- having no apple compote
- yelling at Goon for being a goon and sending him back to the shops.
Guess which one I went for. Goon returned not long after with a bag of twenty apples. I fear I will be eating apples for a long time
The moral of this story is, when you need shopping done properly, do it yourself! Or at least avoid enlisting the help of someone incapable of memorizing a four item list. .
At least the cooking went without TOO many glitches (just one burnt finger). I prepared the pork belly by rubbing it all over with cinnamon and allspice then salting the skin and roasting it. I finished it off under the grill to get some nice crispy crackling. The apple compote was just caramelised apple stewed in cider, reduced till dry and broken up with a bit of honey and cinnamon. I served the pork with some mustard mashed potatoes and red cabbage braised with juniper.
I’m not sure why everyone raves so much about pork belly. I couldn’t help thinking of pork scratchings as I ate it. It was just a bit too fatty for my taste. I think I might try it braised at some point to see if that’s any better but, to be honest I think I prefer other more meaty joints.
Now, has anyone got any good ways to use up a lot of apples?
EDIT: Here’s what I did for the pork belly with apple compote.
You know… its shocking for a Southerner.. but I’ve never had pork belly! O_O would love to try it eventually though…
Lots of apples eh? APPLE PIE!!!! =D
Comment by Lea — October 17, 2006 @ 4:31 pm
Good idea! Goon might also eat the apples if they’re cooked sweet and covered in pastry.
Comment by ros — October 17, 2006 @ 4:33 pm
Never had pork belly before, but hear it tastes fabu. It’s on my “to try before I die” list.
Comment by Garrett — October 18, 2006 @ 12:16 am
everyone needs one of those lists….
Comment by Lea — October 18, 2006 @ 2:47 pm
did all the fonts change around here or am I halluscinating?
Comment by Lea — October 19, 2006 @ 3:09 pm
Don’t worry - you’re still sane. I’ve been meaning to fix the layout of the site for a while but Andy kept forgetting to set up the fonts for me until now. The site will probably change a bit over the next two weeks until I’m happy with how it looks.
Comment by ros — October 19, 2006 @ 4:26 pm
tarte tatin… always! with some good vanilla icecream!
i love pork belly, but i must admit i have never tried making my own. i would guess the secret lies in lots of salt and curing it beforehand, then roasting forever and ever?
Comment by johanna — October 20, 2006 @ 8:34 pm
Certainly a lot of salt was involved. I didn’t need to roast it for too long as my pieces were quite small. I think it was done in about 40 minutes.
Comment by ros — October 22, 2006 @ 4:28 pm