I grew up with a Chinese (Cantonese) best friend whose Dad was a chef. The influence has stayed with me ever since.
I love Chinese-style pork belly: slow-braised in soy sauce, rice wine, spring onions, ginger and garlic. It’s rich and meltingly soft.
I decided to give the pork the classic partners of fennel and apple. Here, it’s pickled fennel, apple sauce and a caramel-soy sauce. I think these work well with it because the fennel and apple provide some acidic counterpoint and the sweetness of the sauce matches the sweetness of the pork. This has become a bit of a signature dish of mine.
Chinese-style pork belly, pickled fennel, apple sauce, caramel-soy sauce