Pork Belly With Corn Bread

Total Time: 4-4.5 hours

Prep Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Cook Time: 2.5-3 hours

Servings: 4 people

Suitable For: Committed cookers

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Inspired by cooking with their fathers and grandmothers, Capital Hotel School's student chefs Jean Paul van der Meulen and Emile Nel created this recipe for Heritage Day. They took part in the Megamaster Heritage Day competition which challenged students to put a braai twist on a traditional South African dish – and their delicious spin on mielie (corn) bread won them third place!

Ingredients

FOR PORK BELLY:

1kg pork belly
100g lamb spice rub (or rub of your choice)
300ml Jimmy's Sauces Smokey Barbecue Sauce
150ml sweet chilli sauce
15g rosemary, finely chopped

FOR SOUR CREAM:

500ml cream
135ml lemon juice

FOR MIELIE (CORN) BREAD:

390g corn flour
415g cake flour
15g baking powder
2 eggs
15g sugar
15g butter
1 tin sweetcorn

Instructions

PORK BELLY

Rub lamb spice (or rub of choice) generously on the pork belly.
Sear the pork belly for at least 10 minutes per side on a very hot fire. Not open flames, but very hot coals.
While your pork belly sears and seals on the fire, mix the barbecue sauce and sweet chilli sauce together for the basting sauce. Tip: You can also experiment with your own favourite basting sauce.
Remove leaves from rosemary stalk and chop finely.
Wrap pork belly in foil, fat side up, with the basting sauce poured over. Sprinkle rosemary on top and seal the foil. The foil will concentrate the heat and help the pork belly become super tender while cooking.
Braai for 2.5-3 hours. Tip: If you’re using a gas braai or charcoal braai with a lid, make sure to close your lid to create a convection inside the braai – this will cook your pork belly more efficiently.

MIELIE (CORN) BREAD

To make the mielie bread, mix corn flour, cake flour, baking powder, eggs, baking powder and butter together and mix well.
Drain excess liquid from the canned sweetcorn and add to the flour mixture.
Butter and flour a bread pot, or cast iron pot, and place bread dough in the pot. Tip: Use baking paper to line your pot so that you can easily remove the bread after baking. If you don’t have baking paper, butter and flour will do perfectly fine.
Bake for 30-40 minutes on medium heat. If baking on the braai, ensure your cast iron pot is positioned high enough over the coals so that the bread bakes slowly and does not burn. If using a charcoal braai or open fire, regularly rotate your pot to prevent bread from burning.
If using a gas braai, close the lid and preheat to 200°C. Make sure to only use the outside burners, and place the pot in the middle of the braai to help regulate the heat.
To test if the bread is done, insert a kebab stick. If it comes out clean, the bread is ready.
Remove from oven or braai and cool down on wire rack for 5-10 minutes.

SOUR CREAM

Mix ingredients and whisk until stiff peaks form.

MEGAMASTER RECIPE TIPS

Tip 01

Be sure to sear the pork belly on high heat right at the beginning. Pork belly is a very fatty cut of meat and you need to render the fat to seal in all the flavour of the meat and to make the remainder of the fat crispy.

Tip 02