Cook this: Apples 'n' pears pork from Poppy Cooks

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Our cookbook of the week is Poppy Cooks by Poppy O’Toole. Over the next two days, we’ll feature another recipe from the book and an interview with the author.

To try another recipe from the book, check out: Bacon-y garlic-y potato-y; and cheese and onion pie.

“This is one of my go-tos,” says Michelin-trained chef and TikTok sensation Poppy O’Toole of her apples ‘n’ pears pork.

“Working in restaurants, this is the technique that you use to get that really soft pork belly layer and a crisp, crackly top.”

Every chapter in her debut book, Poppy Cooks, starts with at least one core recipe, such as béchamel, cheese sauce and confit garlic. Once you’ve learned these foundational recipes, you can apply them in many ways.

In her “Up Your Roast” chapter, O’Toole shares ways to maximize Sunday roast dinners — a weekly tradition at her home in Birmingham, England that usually “revolves around a big bit of meat.”

Her herb-roasted chicken, smoke and stout beef, red onion tarte tatin and the following apples ‘n’ pears pork are fundamental recipes that you can take in different directions.

Even more than the pork roast, O’Toole looks forward to the next-day pork sandwich with apple sauce and stuffing (the recipe for the latter is in the book).

O’Toole is a fan of adding fruit flavours, and does so here with pears and apples as well as cider and apple juice.

“A little bit of extra effort goes a long way when it comes to the taste of food. So, I wanted to showcase that,” she says. “And pork belly is a cheaper cut. It’s quite accessible to get. And it’s delicious. So I wanted to just spread that everywhere.”

APPLES ’N’ PEARS PORK

2 pears, halved
2 apples, halved
2 carrots, roughly chopped
1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 garlic bulb
2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
1 kg (2 1/4 lb) deboned pork belly, skin scored (ask your butcher to do this)
Flaky salt
About 4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 x 440 mL (14 1/2 fl oz) can of cider
200 mL (scant 1 cup) apple juice

For the sauce:
1 tbsp cornstarch mixed with 1 tbsp water to form a slurry
1 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6).

Step 2

Put the halved pears and apples in a deep roasting tin, along with the carrots, onion, garlic and celery.

Step 3

Pat dry the skin of the pork belly and sprinkle a generous amount of flaky salt over the top, massaging it into the cuts. Set aside at room temperature for about 30 minutes, after which there should be some liquid on the skin. Pat dry again and pour over the vegetable oil. This is all helping to get that crispy, puffed crackling, ’cause what’s the point of pork without crackling?

Step 4

Place the pork belly into the tin, skin up, on top of the fruit and veggies.

Step 5

Pour the cider and apple juice around (not over) the pork to cover the belly meat, but not the skin. If you need more liquid, use water or stock.

Step 6

Roast the meat for 1 1/2 hours, or until the skin is crackly and golden and the meat is tender. Remove the pork from the tin on to a carving board and leave it to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Step 7

Meanwhile, strain the juice in the tin through a sieve into a medium saucepan. Remove the fruit from the sieve and set aside to serve, but squash down the veg to get all the flavour out. Place the pan over a high heat, bring the juices to the boil and let them bubble away until reduced by half (about 10 minutes).

Step 8

Pour the cornstarch slurry into the juices in the pan and cook for a couple of minutes, until thickened. Add the chilled butter and whisk together — this will emulsify into the sauce and make it extra glossy and luxurious.

Step 9

I like to serve the pork belly whole to carve at the table with the fruit alongside, but you can carve it up beforehand to serve, if you prefer.

Serves: 4–6

Recipe and image excerpted from Poppy Cooks by Poppy O’Toole. Copyright © 2021 Poppy O’Toole. Photography © 2021 Louise Hagger. Published by Appetite by Random House, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.

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