A counterintuitively quick recipe for ‘slow’ roasted pork belly with apples, cider, onion & sage.

This recipe relies on an uncommonly good convenience product from Trader Joe’s, the California chain with links throughout the United States. Similar products are available from various sources in the United Kingdom. Unlike most prepared foods, this one contains no exotic chemicals, stabilizers, sugars or other alien additives. The only three ingredients are pork belly, water and sea salt. And although this is authentic pork belly, it it comparatively lean in a good rather than dry way. Two generous servings.

• a box of Trader Joe’s “Fully Cooked Pork Belly”
• about a Tablespoon unsalted butter or, for purists, lard
• a peeled, cored and sliced apple
• an onion sliced into thin crescents
• some rubbed sage
• salt and pepper
• 2 teaspoons flour (preferably Wondra)
• 1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
• about ½ cup hard cider
• some chicken or, better, pork stock if you have it

Preheat the oven to 325˚.

1. Ignore the “Heating Instructions” on the box.
2. Open the plastic bag, gently scrape all the jelly (there should be a fair amount) off of the pork and dump the jelly in a bowl.
3. Gently pat the pork dry.
4. Melt the butter or lard in an ovenproof skillet (cast iron is good) or pan a little bigger than required to fit the pork over medium heat.
5. Cook the apple and onion with the sage, a very little salt and a generous grind of pepper until the onion softens.
6. Meanwhile score the pork on both sides, then sear the fattier side over high heat until brown.
7. Stir the flour into the onion mixture, then add the vinegar and reduce it to nearly nothing.
8. Do the same thing with the cider, then add the pork jelly and enough stock to nearly cover the onion mix.
9. Drop the pork onto the onion mix seared side up and bake the dish until everything is hot, usually in less than 30 minutes.

Notes:

-The traditional and essential mate to the dish is mashed potato.

-Pork belly is versatile. You might go Asian by omitting the apple, substituting ginger and seven spice powder for the sage and choosing lime juice, coconut or cane for the cider vinegar. Follow the recipe through step 7, add some low sodium soy sauce or some ponzu, then the jelly and stock. When the pork is done scatter it with minced scallion greens and serve with rice.