Nearly a year ago, I blogged about Ai-Ling’s fabulous clay pot belly pork. Since then, the dish has become a staple in our house – my boys love it and request it often.
Last week, I tried making a Römertopf version of this recipe and was delighted with the result. The sauce doesn’t thicken in quite the same way as it does when it’s cooked on the hob, but it’s rich and flavoursome nonetheless, and the meat is succulent and tender. Furthermore, like all Römertopf meals, the preparation and cooking process is very simple – all the ingredients are combined cold, laid into the pre-soaked pot, then popped into a cold oven to bake.
From the freezer, I excavated a slab of belly pork and four thin pork chops. Once the meat had defrosted, I put the Römertopf lid and base in a sink of cold water while I prepared the ingredients (the pot needs about 20 minutes soaking time).
After defrosting, the belly was cut into thick slices…
The other ingredients included:
- a fat thumb of ginger, peeled and julienned
- 1 Spanish onion, peeled, halved and sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 3 spring onions, chopped
- 2 dried chillies, deseeded (Ai-Ling’s original recipe uses 10!)
For the sauce, I combined:
- 3 – 4 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 4 teaspoons dark soy
- 2 teaspoons light soy
- 3 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- good pinch white pepper
The sauce and other ingredients were combined with the meat…
…then transferred to the wet pot. I placed the chops at the bottom to keep them moist, then layered the belly pork on top. Finally, I poured over two cups of homemade, lightly salted chicken stock (the photo below shows the filled Römertopf before the stock was added). I tried to make sure that as much of the meat as possible was submerged.
The lid went on and the pot went into a cold oven. The temperature was then turned up to 200C with fan.
I left it to bake for two hours in total, checking at the 90 minute mark to see if the seasonings needed adjustment. Ai-Ling suggests adding a little sugar and salt, but I didn’t feel it was necessary this time. If you’d like a thicker sauce, you could try adding a cornflour slurry at the point. I reduced the temperature for the final half hour to 180C with fan (on a whim, really). Remove the lid towards the end of the baking time if you’d like the braise to darken and reduce further (I didn’t), but watch it carefully if you do, as it can brown up very quickly uncovered.
We allowed the pot to rest on a wooden board (never put a hot Romy on a cold surface!) then defatted it slightly by gently mopping up the excess oil with absorbent paper towels (it’s surprising how effectively this works).
The boys loved this version of clay pot belly pork – Small Man went back for thirds!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
That looks so delicious for such little effort. Fantastic.
Thank you! The boys really loved it! :)
This sounds really good and a different way of preparing pork belly. I look forward to trying it – and yes, I would have reduced the chillies too – love spice but may be not that much!
Rachel, we used our homegrown cayenne chillies, and they’re quite hot! :)
It sounds totally amazing. I want to see you make a pudding in that romertopf…..only kidding. I am going to make this in my pressure cooker x
Will be interested to hear how it goes in the pressure cooker! :)
what a great recipe celia..need to make this for my son..he would love it as much as yours did..x
Jane, if you don’t want to make it in the oven, the original stove top version works a treat as well!
So tasty and so easy Celia! I love these kind of set-and-forget meals :) I’m not surprised thirds were required, pork belly is luscious! Xox
Becca, I had to stop him and remind him to leave some for his brother, who was running late from uni! :)
You are certainly getting good use from your romertopt Celia. At first I was amazed at how much you were cooking but after reading that Small Man went back for thirds, I see the wisdom of your ways. By the way, I’ve seen the term hob in another blog from the UK and have wondered what that is. Is it the top of the stove?
Diane, feeding teenage boys is a whole different ballgame! I’m always astonished by how much they can put away! And yes, the “hob” is the stove cooktop! :)
Love this recipe Celia, always have! One of me to try with the Romertopf too! I always add some greens.
Hope you enjoyed the Romy version as well, darling xx
Thirds?! I love recipes like this that take little effort but are great value and everyone loves them.
Nancy, I also tried this recipe with the pigs trotters!! Worked well (but only you’d appreciate it) :)
The white meat should be the most delicious part, am i right?
The belly pork was definitely eaten first! :)
Am going to give this a go in the Le Creuset. YUM!
Have fun, Mel! Should work well…
I like the paper towel approach. I’ve always used a slice of bread but sometimes it falls apart if I’m not quick enough. :)
Hey, but at least you get to EAT the bread, Maureen! :D
The insert in my slow cooker cracked rendering it useless. I couldn’t decide whether to replace the slow cooker with a new one or a Romy (don’t have room for both!). As I found a small Romy at Vinnies the other day for $5, I am going to give the Romy ago. If it is successful, I will buy a larger one. This recipe and your archive will certainly help.
A $5 Romy is a great buy! Hope you have as much fun with yours as we have with ours!
Have to go hunting into the freezer for pork hopefully still there :) ! A simple, classic, beautifully oomphish recipe, especially since I have dragged my old Romertopf out of the back of the cupboard!!
Enjoy, Eha! :)
Ok that’s it, Celia; you’ve convinced me to get a Romertopf (to store who-knows-where). This will be the first recipe I make in it!
I hope you get as much use from yours as we get from ours! It gets an airing at least once a week! :)
Blog synchronization going on here, I made braised pork cheeks the other week :)
Snap! Such a lovely cut, the cheeks! :)
Ooo, what a mouth watering fabulous dish and perfect for the weather we are having at the moment.
Have a wonderful weekend Celia.
:-) Mandy xo
Is it cold there, Mandy? We’re having a very mild winter here in Sydney. Hope you’re having a great weekend too! xxx
It seems our weather is awfully confused at the moment – the past couple of weeks have been a combination of blistery berg wind hot days followed by bitterly cold days with a few lovely autumn days in between. Seems all the wind is blowing all the rain away though. xo
What a fabulous tasty recipe, Celia! xxx Looks smashing & ooh so appetizing too! xxx
Sophie, thanks darling! xx
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Oh my gosh Celia. This looks heavenly! I’ve never braised pork at home but I always drool over it in restaurants. I will try this version (and the original one from Ai-Ling! I am a big fan of Blue Apocalypse but for some reason I missed that recipe) x
Laura, it’s a winning recipe! Ai-Ling’s a clever lady – this is the sort of food my father grew up on!
I have made this loads since you first blogged about it, our version gets cooked in a Emile Henry enamel pot in the oven and I freeze portions too for emergency suppers. I can vouch for its deliciousness! xx
Yum! Good to know it freezes well, thanks dearheart! xx
Roll on winter when we crave dishes like this.
See, I can eat this at almost any time of the year! :)
Looks wonderful Celia! I really must attempt cooking pork belly one day.
Claire, it’s a delicious cut, but not the healthiest. :)
I can just tell from those ingredients that it would be fantastic! :D I am doing a roast pork too-tis the season for it in this weather! ;)
Ooh, slow roast pork! Yum! :)
That does look fabulous!
Thanks Greg! :)
Hi Celia, the ingredients are a little different but this looks like the pork my dad makes that my hubby just loves. Dad also adds whole eggs to his and even though I don’t eat pork I always eat a egg!:) We went to Rockpool Bar & Grill the other night for hubby’s birthday and he had the special of pork belly and even though he said it was good he prefers dad’s pork, different style of cooking of course but dad was pretty pleased :) I bet the kitchen smells delicious when this is in the oven!
Stefanie, I think the whole boiled eggs is a very Teochew addition! I must ask my mum.. :)
It looks like Romy has cooked up a winner. I love pork belly and I can just imagine how there would be those in this family heading to the Romy for thirds! xx
Charlie, we had to stop him or he’d have gone back for more! There are some dishes designed to fill starving teenagers, I reckon.. :)
This sounds delicious! I’ve had my eye on one of those pans. I have an unglazed clay trainee and love it, but it’s not always useful for everything. Might have to look for one of these!
The glazed interior makes all the difference – it means the pot goes into the dishwasher and comes out clean! :)