Pork braised with cider, onions and cloves

This was a regular on the menu of The Earl Spencer in Southfields where I briefly worked in 2010.  I'm not sure where the recipe came from, and I never saw it cooked there, so I have sort-of made this recipe up.  But it works really well.

Waitrose sell thick pork belly slices which have had the skin removed from them, which are great for this.

Serves 4

600g pork belly slices (see above), cut into 1.5 inch cubes
500ml clear, dry, probably sparkling cider
2 tbsp cider vinegar
3 onions, halved vertically, peeled then sliced very finely across the grain
2 tbsp vegetable oil
20g butter
5 cloves
4cm stick of cinnamon
1 dried red chilli
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper

In your largest, widest and heaviest frying pan, heat a thin film of oil.  Season the pork pieces with pepper then lightly colour them in batches in this pan.  Adjust the heat up or down as you need to, to keep things moving along.  A frying splash preventer is very handy for this stage.

Meanwhile in a large casserole dish sweat the onions in the fats until lightly coloured, stirring regularly.

When each batch of pork is cooked, remove it to a plate then pour excess oil from the pan.  Deglaze the pan with the cider, scraping the base with a wooden spoon and allowing to simmer.

When the onions are done assemble everything in the casserole dish, including any juices that have come from the meat, and salt well.  Adjust the heat to a very low simmer indeed, and simmer with the lid adjar for 1.5-2 hours.  This should allow the sauce to reduce to a nice concentration by the time the pork is tender.  If it needs to reduce further simply remove the lid completely for the final half hour of cooking.  Pick out all herbs and spices before serving - remembering how many cloves you added.

Serve with kale and steamed potatoes.  The trick(s) to cooking kale is to remove all bits of stem, soak in cold water for 10 minutes in advance of cooking, then cook for 3 minutes in a large volume of rapidly boiling and heavily salted water.