Pork belly Confit in Master Stock

I love a succulent piece of pork, and the belly is a great meat as it has those beautiful layers of fat that keeps the meat juicy. Here, I decided to make a Siew Youk with a twist. Master Stock is basically a stock that chefs would poach meat in and keep reusing. You can store it in the freezer and use it again and again. Just have to top it up with water. But I only made a small portion and I reduced it to make a lovely sauce to accompany my pork.

Pork belly Confit in Master Stock

500g pork belly, rind scored

1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp light soy

1 tbsp sugar

1 cinnamon stick

2 star anise

1-2 dried orange peel

1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine

couple slices ginger

1 chili finely chopped

Prepare the pork as you would for Siew Youk (see related Siew Youk recipe). Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celcius(I use the fan force and grill together).Wipe the salt off and place the meat in a baking dish. In a pot, bring to boil 2 cups of water and add all the above ingredients (except the pork of course). Taste the broth and add a bit of sugar/soy to get the right balance.

Pour the broth into the baking dish, try avoiding getting the rind wet, until it reaches just below the rind. Place the baking dish in the oven for 15 mins or until rind crackles. Then turn the oven down to 170 degrees (also switch to fan force only or the grill will burn the skin). Bake for a further 1 hr.

Remove pork from baking dish. Pour juices from baking dish into a saucepan. Bring to boil and simmer until you get a slightly thickened syrup.

Slice the pork and serve with the reduced stock.