FLOWER POT KITCHEN: WOOD FIRED FIRE PIT CRACKLING PORK

28 May 2018

WOOD FIRED FIRE PIT CRACKLING PORK

KETOGENIC

PERFECT CRACKLING EVERYTIME

Succulent juicy five spiced seasoned fire pit flavoured pork belly with perfect crispy salty crackling served with Dijon mustard olive oil mayonnaise and microgreens. Cooking over wood fire flames always brings out some sense of cave women in me I get all fired up and want to cook everything on my fire pit.

Flame grilling 45 minutes / Resting time 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 kg belly pork skin on

1 tbsp five spice

(recipe below)

1 tbsp sea salt

1 handful microgreens

Dijon Mayonnaise

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

200ml olive oil

1/4 tsp sea salt and pepper

Five Spiced Powder

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 star anise crushed in to powder

1/4 tsp crushed fennel

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp Szechuan

1/8 tsp ground cloves

Fire up your pit and stack it well, leave the logs to become white coals, this takes about an hour to an hour and a half, for successful crispy crackling every time bring the belly pork out of the fridge for a couple of hours before cooking then pat the skin completely dry with paper roll season the skin generously with the sea salt and for this recipe rub the belly pork all over with the five spice mix, that's it!

Place the belly pork on your grill and turn every five minutes to ensure even cooking and not much wood fired char, move the pork to a slightly lower heat part of the grill half way through to slow the cooking down which will ensure a really juicy moist pork belly. Once cooked leave to rest for ten minutes to relax, serve drizzled with your Dijon olive oil mayonnaise and a scattering of microgreens.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.