Cooking with Colm O'Gorman: My recipe for crispy pork with a miso caramel and chilli sauce

Succulent bites of belly pork with crispy crackling smothered in a beautiful sauce made with miso, caramel, chilli, lime, and ginger – this week’s recipe is another in my air fryer series and is perfect served as a starter or snack.

Crispy delicious bites of pork in a sweet and spicy sauce. 

I dreamed this sauce up late one Saturday night when I was thinking of new chicken wing recipes, and it is great with chicken wings, but equally wonderful with pork belly. The sauce from my Korean Crispy Chicken Wings which was the first in this air fryer series would be wonderful with these crispy belly pork bites as well. That recipe is available on ieFood along with all of the recipes in my air fryer series.

On first glance, this might seem like a complicated dish, but it really is quite simple. You do need to dry out the pork belly a little overnight in the fridge and make a dark caramel syrup, but you do both in advance and then cooking the pork and making the sauce is very easy. The crackling is the star of this dish so make sure you get pork belly with the skin still on. You will likely have to go to your local butcher for this as the supermarkets generally only stock skinless pork belly. Ask your butcher to cut the pork belly into strips about two centimetres thick.

The dark caramel syrup that you need for this recipe is itself easy to make. Simply put 200g of caster sugar and 60ml of water into a small saucepan. Place the pan over a medium heat and stir the sugar with a metal spoon until it has all melted. When the sugar has melted, stop stirring and let the syrup cook without disturbing it. Fill your sink with cold water to a depth that will come about two thirds up the sides of the pan you are using for the syrup. After about seven or eight minutes, the syrup will be bubbling and simmering vigorously, but will still be clear in colour. 

Leave the syrup on the heat until it turns dark brown. When the bubbles on the surface of the syrup are very orange and the syrup is close to the colour of black coffee, take the pan off the heat and put the pot into the sink of cold water to stop it cooking. When the syrup has cooled a little, add 125 ml of cold water to the pan and return it to the heat. 

Stir over the heat until the caramel has completely dissolved into the water. Remove from the heat and once it has cooled for about twenty minutes, pour it into a heatproof jar. The syrup stores well so I usually make a batch of it and then just keep it in my kitchen cupboard. It is great to have to hand for making Vietnamese other Asian inspired food. It is quite dark and has a slightly bitter taste, which is beautiful in savoury dishes.

Crispy pork belly bites with miso caramel and chilli sauce

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

Crispy pork with a spicy, sticky sauce

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 4 hours 0 mins

Cooking Time

 40 mins

Total Time

 4 hours 40 mins

Course

 Main

Cuisine

 Japanese

Ingredients

• 500g belly pork with the skin on

• 1 tsp fine sea salt

• Black pepper

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp cornflour or potato starch

• For the sauce: 

• 60g butter

• 40g fresh ginger root

• 1 large red chilli

• 3 tsp miso paste

• 3 tbsp dark caramel syrup

• 2 limes

• To serve:

• Some toasted sesame seeds

• 1 red chilli, thinly sliced

Method

1. The night before you plan to cook this dish place your belly pork strips on a plate or in a tray. Dry them off first with some kitchen towel and then sprinkle over the salt, rubbing it into the skin. Grind some black pepper over the pork and then pop it into the fridge for at least twelve hours, though you can leave it there for up twenty-four hours if you wish. This will help to dry out the pork and give you a beautiful crisp crackling.

2. When you are ready to cook the pork, use some kitchen towel to remove any liquid from the meaty part of the slices, the skin will be very dry by now. Arrange them on a board or tray. Combine the cornflour and baking soda in a small bowl and then use a sieve to sprinkle it over the pork belly, a little at a time. Turn the pork belly over as you go to make sure you give all of it a good coating. Place the pork belly on the shelves or in the basket of your air fryer, skin side up, and cook it for twenty minutes at 140°C Then increase the heat to 200°C and cook the pork for another fifteen minutes. Now check to make sure the crackling is nice and crispy. If it is not quite there yet, give it another five minutes until it is golden and crisp.

3. While the pork is cooking, make the sauce. Peel and grate the ginger. Wash and remove the seeds and pith from the red chilli and finely chop it. Melt the butter in a pan over a high heat until it starts to bubble and foam. Reduce the heat to medium and add the grated ginger. Cook that, stirring it all the time for a minute or two and add the chopped chilli. Cook for another two minutes. Add the miso paste and stir that in until it is combined. Now add the caramel syrup and then finally, the juice of two limes. Stir and cook until everything is well combined, and the sauce goes a little thick and syrupy.

4. Remove the cooked pork slices from the air fryer. Cut them into bite sized pieces and pop them into a large bowl. Pour over the sauce and toss the pork belly bites until they are all evenly coated in sauce. Serve on a warm plate, scattered with some toasted sesame seeds and some thinly sliced fresh red chilli.