Christmas is coming soon, and I was thinking on the dishes I would serve for the family’s Christmas dinner.

It’s gonna be a pot-luck cum cooking competition for the immediate family. The idea to have a cooking competition among us are just for fun and to make it merrier.I think it’s a good idea.

The last time we had it, my dish won the title which obviously upsets many especially the sisters :). It will be interesting to see this Christmas around, whose dish will win.

So, I have two in mind.

The 1st one is my favorite indoor barbecue style - Smoked pork belly with generous spices and the 2nd in mind is Salted mackerel with black mushroom. I can say  both dish has a potential. It’s unique and new for them.

I was inspired to come up with my own version of smoked pork belly after watching License to grill and it hooked me straight away.

While salted mackerel was introduced by my friend about 8 years ago, and since then I’ve been experimenting various cooking style for it.

But today (yesterday) I will do smoked pork belly first and maybe tomorrow for the salted mackerel (I haven’t got enuff materials for it yet)

So, smoked pork belly, here we go.

Ingredients:

A)    Pork belly : Any amount you choose. I  use 1 Kg.
B)    Aniseed : Approx. 1 table spoon.
C)    Dried chili : 1-2 pcs  - Grind to a small particles but not dusty
D)    Star Aniseed : Approx. 1 tea spoon - Grind to dust
E)    Cinnamon : Approx. 1 tea spoon - Grind to dust
F)    Brown sugar : Approx 2-3 table spoon.
G)   Black pepper : 1-2 tea spoon
H)   Melted butter with garlic and honey for glaze

The process - marinating:

• Clean the meat, dry it with kitchen towel. Use your knife to take off the skin but keep  the fat attached  on the meat.

• Prepare a dry marinates by mixing B, C, D, E, F and G in a bowl. You can always adjust the amount to suit your preference.

• Rub the marinates to cover the whole meat. Leave to rest overnight in refrigerator. If you don’t have 1 night, well at least rest it for couple of hours.

Grilling:

Note that I did this indoor simply because I don’t have a real wet kitchen yet -.-”. Here’s my simple stove preparation.

• With everything ready on set – bbq stove and the marinated meet. Get the charcoal on fire. I make mine the fast way.

• Meanwhile waiting for the charcoal ready, soak your wood chips in water for few minutes. Take it out and wrapped with a foil. Use a fork to create holes all over it. You can use almost any wood as long as it is from fruity tree. Alternatively you can also use fruit’s peeled skin such as long an, rambutans, mangostene etc. If you don’t have any at all don’t worry, the charcoal alone will do just fine.

• Once the charcoal is covered with white dust and glowing red, means it is ready. Pile it properly on 1 end side of your stove.

• Place your meat on the other end side of your stove.

• Place woodchips above the charcoal and cover it immediately. It is very important to cover the stove thoroughly. Use wet towels and foil.

• Now is waiting time and be patient. Opening the lit every now and then will spoil the temperature down. For this method I noticed the timing are : 25-45 minutes to get medium rare to medium and 45 – 1 hr for well done. While waiting, have something.. I handled my crave with this 25% Alc. mixed with mountain dew :).

• Do the mopping/glazing with the melted butter 10 minutes before taking it out.

• Once done, put on a cover and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.

• Serve it with your preferred sauce. Mine was a mix of  mustard, light soy sauce, tomato ketchup, vinegar and honey.

The results…

For those celebrating Christmas, I would recommend to try it. The earthy taste from the Aniseed which will only be found after biting it, mixes with the spiced meat, makes the taste uniquely delicious. My wife says it’s a bit western, you try it.

Cheers!