Roasted Pork Belly -- Ribbe in norwegian

For the past days, I have been planning and going through my cookbook selection to get inspiration to what to prepare this coming New Year´s Eve.  Have decided to do my all-time favorite Filipino holiday food.  Will write about it later.

As for the Christmas food, we will be spending a few days  with in-laws and will be having Ribbe´-a pork roasted belly slowly cooked for about 2 hours and grill roasted until you get the crackling, this is usually served with pork patties(medisterkaker), sausages(sossiser), potatoes, sauerkraut & veggies. As a tradition in my norwegian family, it is usually served for Christmas Eve dinner like many norwegian homes.  If cold loin of pork is your choice, make certain that the accompaniments such as boiled potatoes, gravy, and surkaal are served piping hot.

Ingredients:

• about 2 kg pork belly
• Coarse sea salt & freshly ground pepper
• 2 red onions, quartered
• 1 bulb garlic, skin-on, sliced in half & separated
• 1 small ginger, sliced
• 2-3 pcs laurel leaves
• 750 ml water or stock

1. Preheat your oven to 220°C/425°F.  Prepare your pork belly while heating the oven.
2. Place your pork on a chopping board, skin side up.  Get a sharp cutter or a small sharp knife and make scores about an inch apart through the skin into the fat,but not deep that you cut into the meat.  Combine the salt & pepper, then rub the mixture into all the scored skin you have just made then do the same on the back with the bones.
3. Place the pork skin side down in a roasting pan.  Put in the onions, garlic, ginger and the laurel leaves in between the sliced meat.  Then add the water and cover with aluminum foil.  Lower the heat down to 175C and place in the hot oven then slowly cook for 1.5 to 2 hours.
4. After such time, take the pork out of the oven, get a plate or a gridiron and place the pork on top of the gridiron with skin side up.  Place the gridiron/plate back to the pan making sure that there is still liquid left in the pan.  This is to insure the pork belly does not get dried during roasting. 
5. Turn the oven up to 220C.  Roast for about half an hour until the skin of the pork has started to puff up and you can see the crackling of the skin. Turn the heat down to 180°C/350°F and roast for another hour or so.  If you see that the skin is drying, take the pan out and tilt it a bit to side and baste the skin with the juices/fat from the pan.  Make sure to check the meat every now and then, so to avoid burning the skin.
6. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender. Carefully move the meat to a serving dish or place it on a chopping board, if you want to chop it before serving , cover with foil and leave to rest while you make your gravy.
7. In a saucepan, heat up 100 grams butter until melted, then add 3-4 tablespoons of flour. Mix until the flour has solidified a bit.  Then add any fat and juices from the tray. Stir until there is no more clumps.
8. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon.  When you’ve got a nice, dark gravy, pour it through a sieve into a bowl or gravy boat, using your spoon to really push all the goodness of the veg through the sieve. Add a little more salt and pepper as needed. Serve the pork roast belly with gravy, cooked potatoes, brussel sprouts and sauerkraut.

Ribbe/Pork Roasted Belly

Note: If you want to prepare this ahead of time, you may do so.  Just follow the procedure 1-4 and then just take out the pork when you ready to roast it.  Just make sure you allow it to stay for about 30 minutes in room temperature before placing it in the oven for roasting.