psmv5: Pork belly

BH cooks pork belly from Sainsbury's from time to time under potatoes, but on this occasion I fancied a bit of the real thing, as last noticed at reference 2. Hence the visit to Ben the Butcher noticed yesterday.

3kg of pork belly taken off a side. With various other tasty morsels in a nearby tub: head, ears and so forth. Having taken ears once in Paris, I should have taken them, but I did not think of that at the time. Six slices, not very neat, not in the same league as the butcher in Lyme.

One of the slices was used with a variety of vegetables to make stock for gravy. Onion, celery, carrot, leeks and potato. Simmered for a few hours the evening before, then brought the boil again first thing in the morning,m giving it another hour or so, ending up with around 2 litres of stock.

Half of it was turned into soup with a couple of ounces of pearl barley. That is to say a further 45 minutes of simmering to cook the barley. A little white cabbage just before the off.

This time, I decided to cook the slices upright, rather than flat, skin side up, well salted in hope of some crackling. Into the pre-heated oven at 180°C at 11:45. Strained and dished at 12:50, at which point I moved into gravy mode, pouring the stock into the roasting tin to take up the bits and bobs there while I made some roux, I think with the fat taken off the stock earlier. Oven turned off at 13:00.

Parsnips going into the oven at some point, on their own tray, under the meat. Maybe half an hour for them.

Potatoes boiled and mashed at some point.

I had not been able to find any decent looking greens, so had settled for what I remember as Spanish black kale - which went down a lot in the 8 minutes I allowed it, a bit like spinach - and then some more while we took our the soup. Which was quite light and spot on as a starter.

With the result that the kale was a bit softer than I had intended - but just the way that BH likes it.

On the plate. One slice left by the time we had finished, a cold contribution to the main meal the day following.

The crackling was not terribly crackly, I suppose the relatively short cooking time is to blame for that. But well over half of it went, fillings & so forth notwithstanding.

The gravy was surprisingly dark, and rather good. We only used about half of it, so the other half was frozen against some future occasion.

Taken with some of the fine Racines white noticed at reference 6.

Proceedings rounded out with some stewed apples, this time cooked with some cloves as well as a little sugar. Very good they were too.

Altogether, a very satisfactory meal. Ben does it again, even if his cutting was not that great.

At which point I probably took a siesta, getting out for some trolleys a bit later on, as reported at reference 1.

PS: somewhere along the way, took in half of one of the Peruvian pomegranates previously noticed. Lots of pith, lots of juice and rather messy, with small blobs of pink being generously spread around the kitchen. All good fun, but we shall see if I buy any more.

There was also the matter of the neighbouring Christmas tree, noticed at reference 4. Noticed again on my morning circuit, before getting cracking on the pork. This time, with the clue 'christmas tree tall slender', Google Images says:

The image shows a close-up of a branch from a Picea omorika, commonly known as the Serbian spruce. This type of tree is recognized for its slender, elegant form and is often used as a Christmas tree due to its shape and dense foliage. The needles are typically bi-colored, with a green upper surface and a bluish-white underside, which is noticeable in the image. Serbian spruce trees are also known for their resilience and adaptability to various soil conditions, making them a popular choice for both ornamental and practical use in landscaping.

So a rather better job than last time, but sticking to its guns.

By way of evidence it offers the snap above, from the Oregon nursery at reference 5. Plausible, but not really content. I suppose what I really want is a proper botanical identification; number of petals sort of thing. While the nursery is not very good on Wellingtonia, although it is a little stronger on the metasequoia. Maybe they are not popular garden trees in the US, in the way that they once were over here.

In which connection, I might add that the forestry people at reference 7 never bothered to reply to my query about their dubious estimate of the number of Wellingtonia in the UK - with half a million of them now looking well OTT. More than a month ago now, so I don't suppose a reply is coming.

Then the ornamental trees behind a wall, in the run up to the Kiln Lane turning, on my way to Middle Lane. Just coming into flower and looking rather well. However, reference 8 suggests another muddle, with flowering a month earlier last year, which seems a bit unlikely.