Stegt Flæsk med Persillesovs

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy frying pan (cast iron is ideal)
• •Medium saucepan for the sauce
• •Whisk
• •Large pot for the potatoes

Instructions

1. 1

   Salt the pork belly

   Lay the pork belly slices on a board and pat them thoroughly dry with kitchen paper. Both sides. Salt them generously with fine sea salt and leave them uncovered for ten minutes while you start the potatoes. Drying the surface is everything here. Moisture is the enemy of crispness. Wet pork steams in the pan; dry pork fries. The salt draws out the last bit of surface moisture and begins to season the meat from the outside in.

   If your butcher hasn't sliced the belly, do it yourself with a sharp knife. Aim for 5-7mm, about the thickness of a pencil. Thinner slices crisp too fast and turn hard. Thicker ones stay flabby in the middle.
2. 2

   Boil the potatoes

   Put the potatoes in a large pot, cover with cold water, and add a good tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a steady simmer. New potatoes take fifteen to eighteen minutes. A knife should slide in with no resistance. Drain them and put the lid back on, slightly ajar, to keep them warm while you fry the pork. Starting potatoes in cold water matters: it lets them heat evenly from the outside in. Hot water shocks the surface and you get potatoes that crumble at the edges before the center is cooked through.

3. 3

   Start the pork cold

   Place the pork belly slices in a large, heavy frying pan in a single layer. Start with a cold pan. No oil, no butter, nothing. Turn the heat to medium. This is the step most people get wrong, and it's the most important one. A cold start lets the fat render slowly out of the belly, and the pork fries in its own fat. If you start hot, the outside burns before the fat has a chance to melt, and you get charred leather instead of golden glass.

   You will likely need to fry in two batches. Crowding the pan traps moisture and the pork steams rather than crisps. Give each slice room. Patience here pays for itself on the plate.
4. 4

   Fry until deeply crisp

   Let the slices cook undisturbed for five to six minutes on the first side. You'll hear a gentle sizzle building as the fat renders. When the edges are golden and the surface has started to curl, flip them. Cook for another four to five minutes on the second side. The finished slices should be deep golden, curled at the edges, and crisp enough that they crack when you press them with a spatula. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper. You'll know when it's right. The sound changes from a wet sizzle to a dry crackle, and the kitchen smells like something between a Saturday morning and a celebration.

   Don't throw out the rendered pork fat. Pour it through a sieve into a jar. It keeps in the fridge for weeks and is the best fat for roasting potatoes or frying eggs.
5. 5

   Make the parsley sauce

   Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. When it foams, add the flour all at once and stir with a whisk for two minutes. You're cooking out the raw flour taste. The mixture should bubble gently and smell biscuity, not floury. Now add the warm milk in a slow, steady stream, whisking constantly. If you add it all at once, the sauce lumps. If you add it too slowly, the roux seizes. A steady pour with continuous whisking is the rhythm you want. Keep whisking until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon, about four to five minutes.

   Warm the milk before adding it. Cold milk hitting hot roux is what causes lumps. If you do get lumps despite your best effort, push the sauce through a fine sieve. No one needs to know.
6. 6

   Finish with parsley

   Remove the sauce from the heat. Stir in the finely chopped parsley, a generous amount of white pepper, the nutmeg if using, and salt to taste. The parsley goes in off the heat because boiling turns it grey and bitter. You want it bright green and grassy, flecks of it visible throughout the white sauce. Be generous. This is persillesovs, not white sauce with a suggestion of parsley. The herb is the point. Taste it. The sauce should be creamy, peppery, and unmistakably green.

7. 7

   Serve generously

   Pile the warm potatoes on a serving dish or onto individual plates. Lay the crispy pork belly slices on top or alongside, however your table prefers it. Pour the parsley sauce over everything with a generous hand. The sauce pools around the potatoes and meets the crisp edges of the pork, and that contrast, crisp and creamy, salty and green, is the whole soul of this dish. Serve immediately. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •Ask your butcher to slice the pork belly for you if you can. The slices should be even, about 5-7mm, so they cook at the same rate. Uneven slices mean some are burnt while others are still flabby.
• •Use curly parsley, not flat-leaf, if you want the traditional Danish version. Curly parsley has a more peppery, robust flavor that holds its own against the richness of the pork. Flat-leaf works too, but it tastes different, softer and more Mediterranean.
• •White pepper, not black. Black pepper leaves dark specks in the sauce that look like dirt. White pepper is invisible and gives a gentler, rounder heat. This is one of those quiet Danish details that matters more than it sounds.
• •New potatoes in summer, floury potatoes in winter. The season decides. New potatoes hold their shape and taste of the soil they came from. Floury potatoes crumble into the sauce and soak it up. Both are right. It depends on the month.

Advance Preparation

• •The parsley sauce can be made thirty minutes ahead and kept warm with a lid on. Add the chopped parsley only when you're ready to serve, so it stays green.
• •The potatoes can be boiled ahead and kept warm in their pot with the lid ajar. They hold well for twenty minutes.
• •The pork belly must be fried just before serving. Crisp pork waits for no one. Even ten minutes of resting softens the edges.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 500g)