Prep the pork belly: Remove all the packaging (plastic wrap) from the pork and lay it out on a rack to dry. Use a kitchen towel to dry the belly all around and leave it in the fridge, uncovered on a rack, overnight if possible. Otherwise, an hour at the least you if you want crackling.

Room temperature: An hour before roasting, remove the pork belly from the fridge so it reaches room temperature before cooking.

Start by prepping the ‘vegetable bed for the pork belly’: You can use carrots and onions to act as a bed, these vegetables can later be used towards making the gravy later. The veg used here are onions and carrots, cut side down to create a flatbed to lay the belly over. If not making gravy, the belly can be placed over a rack in a roasting tray.

Prep the spices: Add all your spices to a mortar and pestle or grinder/blender and mix them. If you are using coarse salt and peppercorns, add them now otherwise add regular salt and pepper after grinding. Add a drizzle of olive oil to help the spices combine. Set aside.

Preheat The oven must be preheated to 230°C / 446°F

Score the skin: If scoring, use a sharp knife and carefully score the rind in 1 - Inch intervals or about a finger apart. Dry the skin once more after scoring.

Season the pork belly: Turn the pork belly skin-side down and rub the spices (or just salt and pepper, 1 teaspoon) into the meat (underneath). The spices have already been mixed with oil so you won’t need to add any.  Rub it into the meat. Drizzle olive oil over the rind (skin) and season with a generous amount of sea salt using about a tablespoon. Rub it in. Any remaining oil, use to rub onto the meat on the sides of the belly.

Roast/Crisp the skin: Transfer the pork belly to a roasting dish over a rack or place it over the onions and carrots and roast for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the rind changes to a light brown colour and starts crackling. 

Prep the remaining veg: Rinse, clean and chop the eggplant, fennel, bell peppers, potatoes and  set aside. To roast the garlic, remove the papery leaves, leaving just the tight ones on the garlic cloves. Slice the top bit off from the whole head of garlic, wrap in foil, drizzle with olive oil, close the foil and add into the roasting dish with the vegetables.

Remove belly from the oven: Once the pork belly has turned brown and started developing a crackling, take it out of the oven. Drop the heat to 150°C (302°F)

Using a pair of tongs move the belly from the pan onto the oven rack directly in the stove (no oven tray) and place the prepared vegetables under the pork belly (in the same roasting pan that the pork belly was crisping in) Do not rinse the tray, and do not toss out those pan juices!)Belly out onto the rack and the veggies into the same oven tray. Give the veggies a good stir so that they collect the pan juices from the belly and then place the pan in the oven. The pork belly goes onto the rack above the belly this will a) allow the veggies and belly to finish cooking at the same time and b) the fat from the pork belly drips onto the veg adding incredible flavour!

Final roast: Leave the veggies and belly to cook finish for about 2 to 2 ½ hours until cooked and crispy. Remove the pork belly and the vegetables from the oven.

Rest the pork belly: Rest the pork belly for 10 minutes before cutting into it. Very important step for the juices to re-distribute throughout the meat. If you ever find yourself with a sliced meat and a plate of meat juices, you didn't rest the meat (and it will taste more tough, irrespective of how good the cut of meat). However, pork has a lot of juices so you'll still have some on the plate even after resting it but resting the meat is also important for the meat muscle fibres to relax.

Serve: Slice and serve with roasted vegetables and gravy.