Belly Pork

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peter
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Belly Pork

Post by peter »

Belly Pork is a cheap cut of pork that done properly can rival the very best cuts that you can buy.

Good pork is really difficult to find these days; the tendency for the meat to have 'boar taint' is widespread and while I'm not sure what causes this (ie what changes in production methods) I find it a nasty development that makes for poor eating.

Belly pork doesn't seem to suffer with this however, and while certainly a high fat cut, careful selecting should grant a good amount of lean to which the fat will give terrific flavour and moistness on eating.

First thing - no skin. What you want is strips of belly, one inch high and about the same width, normally around 5 inches in length. Dry these off with kitchen roll and then salt the meat fairly well and sprinkle with chopped chilies, fresh or flaked. Cover the meat with clingfilm and put it into a fridge for 24 hours.

Heat an oven to 137 ish (ie between 125 and 250 degrees C) and put the meat into a shallow dish, laid out lengthways with space between the strips. Pour in a small quantity of vegetable stock, sufficient to sort of half immerse the pork strips. You are going to effectively steam the meat in the dish, so don't submerge it, just have enough stock to 'bathe its ankles' as it were. Cover your dish fairly tightly with tin foil so that on cooking the liquid isn't just boiled away. It doesn't have to be wrapped in foil, just a covering pretty well folded around the edge of the dish.

Stick this in the oven for one and a half hours. No need to look at it or anything; it won't come to any harm.

After the 1.5 hours, take it out and pour off the juice in the dish. It'll be a nice rich base for a gravy if you want to make one. Just drip a little oil (I use chilli, but ordinary vegetable oil will do) on the meat - incidentally, it doesn't matter if the meat strips are lying on their side or upright (as it were) in the dish; it's all the same at the end - and rub across with your finger. This just helps it caramelise a bit. It's probably unnecessary, but I've found it works so I do it anyway. Now add a further sprinkle of salt to the meat which again helps with the caramelising.

Now put the dish back into the oven and raise the temperature to 200.

When it hits 200 start timing your meat for about 20 minutes or so at the higher temperature. This bit will depend on how much meat you are cooking - the time I'm giving is for a pretty small quantity as me and Mrs P don't eat much, but larger quantities might need more time.

But essentially you are now using your eyes. You are looking for a nice brown caramelised finish. Not burned but nicely brown. As I say, it won't take all that long - you've done the bulk of the cooking in the steaming part and now are just essentially rendering out the soft fat.

When you take it out, put it onto a warm plate and serve with apple sauce plus or minus mustard. The meat will be soft and unctuous and deliciously flavoured. I had it yesterday and man, just writing this makes me want it again today!

Good eating people. Luv y'all.

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Belly Pork

Post by sgt.null »

I get pork belly in Banh Mi sandwiches in Houston. It is so delicious! I also get the duck there as well. Julie has decided to try the pork belly next time we are there. Your recipe looks delicious.
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