Recipe by Gianni D’Amato: Low temperature cooked Pork Belly, Braised Endive, Potato, Licorice and Lemon
Ingredients for 4 Servings
For the pork
- 1 small pork belly
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 1 small piece of rosemary
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 clove
- Some peppercorns
- 2 leaves of sage and thyme
- Zest of 2 lemons
- Salt
- A drizzle of oil
For the Pork Sauce
- 5 kg pork ribs
- 15 carrots
- 3 onions
- 3/4 stalks of celery
- 1 maracuja (passion fruit)
- 1 bouquet garni (bundle of herbs)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves
- Peppercorns and juniper berries
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Salt and pepper
For the Potato Foam
- 250g boiled potatoes
- 120g cooking water
- 125g liquid cream
- 6g gelatin
- Nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste
- 10g licorice
- Zest of 1 lemon, grated
- 1 teaspoon mustard
Method
For the Pork Belly
Marinate the pork belly with all the ingredients except salt for at least 3 hours.
Vacuum seal the pork belly, season with salt, and cook in a 95°C (203°F) steam oven for 10 hours.
Remove from the oven, place the vacuum bag in water and ice. When cool, remove from the vacuum bag, clean off herbs and spices, and portion.
Make 80g portions, re-vacuum seal the pork belly pieces, and keep warm at 80°C (176°F).
When needed, sear in clarified butter, starting with the skin side and then the other. The pork belly should be crispy.
For the Sauce
Wash and clean the ribs in cold water, dry them, then roast in the oven with a drizzle of oil, aromatic herbs, salt, pepper, and spices.
Toast, set aside, remove from trays, discard excess fat, and deglaze the trays with white wine. Filter and set aside. Clean and chop the vegetables into a mirepoix, sauté with a little oil, add a pinch of salt, then the ribs, a bouquet garni, and spices. Add white wine, reduce, add ice and water.
Slowly cook for 5/6 hours, remove the ribs, pass everything through a chinois and cheesecloth. Cool and degrease, return to a pot, reduce by 1/3, add some cornstarch dissolved in water and reduce further. Strain again, add reduced maracuja.
For the Potato Foam
Blend in a blender without the cream, add dissolved gelatin, then the cream. Put in a siphon.
Finishing the Dish
Sauté the long-cut endive in butter, add a pinch of salt, place a piece of pork belly on top of the endive, drizzle with sauce, foam the potato, and garnish as desired.
