As my Granny would say "I wish I may never"! Pork belly has made it from the rural south to southern Calif.!!! After all these years???

Pork belly is probably one of the reasons obesity is so prevalent in the southeast. May be where cholesterol originated.LOL I'm interested to hear more about this new "discovery".

jude

I like pork belly. Here are notes I took last time I made it. This was braised-roasted pork belly.

Pick a piece of belly that is of more-or-less uniform thickness and has a nice thick cap of skin and fat.. Cut into a reasonably square piece that will fit, laying flat, in your pot. Heat oil and brown the belly on skin and meat sides. Place in pressure cooker, skin side up, with a bunch of daikon radish (probably optional, could use shallots), some duck wing tips (could use chicken or skip), soy sauce, sake, peppercorns, and enough water to cover the piece. Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. (Alternatively, 2 hours braising in covered conventional pot in oven.) Release pressure, remove belly pieces and place, skin side up, in oven-safe pot. Add enough of the liquid from the pressure cooker to come near the top of the pieces, but - important - do not submerge the skin. (If you braised in a conventional pot, then simply remove the lid and remove enough liquid so that the skin is not submerged.) Place in oven (temperature is not critical - 350-400F) and braise/roast uncovered, basting the skin occasionally with braising liquid, until the skin is crisp - but not hard or burned - poke the skin with a skewer or knife to check.. If you want, you can glaze the skin during roasting, or include a very brief broiling step, to get a deeper colour. Remove belly and set somewhere warm. Strain solids from the liquid and boil/reduce remaining liquid to sauce thickness. Add a bit of cornstarch or other thickener if desired, but don't make a flour-y, cream-y gravy - this is supposed to be a concentrated, intense, dark sauce.

Note the importance of cooking a single piece of uniform thickness: on thicker pieces. the skin will be more exposed and will overcook more quickly than pieces where the skin is just hovering above the surface of the liquid. On thinner pieces, the skin will be submerged and will not get crisp.

To serve, cut into 1'' x 1'' sections. It helps to place toothpicks through the belly, to hold the pieces together, before you start slicing. Each piece should be a single bite of tasty meat, melting fat, and crisp skin. Sauce liberally and serve hot.

This is a fatty dish, and you don't want to see how everything congeals when it cools (imagine your arteries), but boy is it good. Something to indulge in not more often than monthly, I think.

I had it for the first time a couple of weeks ago. We were at a Mexican restaurant that had come highly recommended, so I felt confident ordering it as my appetizer.

OMG it was so gross I had the waiter take it off the table after the first bite. The seasoning was great, but the mouthfeel was something that almost made me hurl.

Glad I tried it once, but never again.

Alexa

"Tacos de Panza del Puerco / Pork Belly Tacos (2)
Slow-cooked pork belly tacos served on house made tortillas, spicy piloncillo pickles and fiery molcajete salsa."

Here is a link that might be useful: Rosa Mexicano

I've cooked in the smoker and then sliced it up as you would bacon, long thin strips. It made great bacon but I don't think I would want it in chunks, too fatty.

In the '70's I had occasion to visit Birmingham for the first time. Although I'm from the south the southern accent in Alabama is quite pronounced and I loved it.

The morning we were leaving Birmingham, and having breakfast at a fairly good sized restaurant, I kept seeing white meat listed along with ham, sausage and bacon. I asked the waitress what white meat was and after much hemming and hawing she blurted out, "it's sow belly"! We all cracked up! No one ordered it though. I think that was the first and only time I ever saw it on a restaurant menu.

jude

Well, John & Chase are whetting my curiosity, & besides, DH is a bacon fanatic. I'm going to try to find some & cut it like bacon.

Kathleenca, we cure pork belly, smoke, & then run it through our commercial-style slicer for bacon. Home cured & smoked bacon is delicious & you get to control the ingredients/quantities of what's in the cure.

Emeril did a show on his favorite food group - pork fat! :) One of the preparations was pork belly with a tangerine glaze. Might be a place to start?

I can't purchase pork belly locally. I have to order it from Whole Foods in Rhode Island. We bought 15 lbs. about 3 months ago to last us until next fall. We used some of it as holiday gifts to neighbors. Seemed only fair since they had 'suffered' through the smoking & told us it had made them starved for bacon! lol

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Emeril's Tangerine Glazed Pork Belly

In fact, there was a dish I had many years ago, in a little might market stall in Taipei, that was translucent cubes of meat and savory broth/juice that dissolved on your tongue. I used to think it was some version of aspic, and have tried to make it without success. Now I am thinking it might have been cubes of pork belly, slow-cooked to the edge of dissolution.

I was hoping to see a post from someone from the south specially the rural south that would have raised pigs/hogs. We always called pork belly the part that had no lean and the part with lean was called streaked meat and that was the part that was cured and used as bacon. Annie if you're checking this thread, ask Elery what they called pork belly.

jude

In Europe, we roast it. it's delicious!
Finely score the skin - don't cut into the meat. Pour a kettle of boiling water over the skin - this helps to dry it out. Leave it in the fridge for a few hours.
Slow roast it for a couple of hours. The fat will melt away - well not all- and the meat will be tasty and succulent with fantastic crackling on top. The fat gives this cut its flavour. Not something to eat every day, but once in a while it won't hurt!

Pork Belly, at least in the agri-industry, is a traded commodity commonly used to make bacon.

I've purchased pork belly a number of times, but only for curing and smoking my own bacon.

Jude, I'm from NJ, but here too that pork belly had no meat, and was salt pork when cured. Again, with no meat. If it had the little meat it was streaklin.. or streak o' lean.

I never could handle it. I used to drive my Father crazy sitting and doing surgery on boiled ham taking out the little bit of fat.. lol. I can still see his face.

Now, salt pork I've seen & cooked with, coconut. Is that really pork belly? If so, I won't waste my time - there's no meat to fry for bacon - you're right. I have a piece in the freezer; I think I'll try Islay's European method out of curiosity.

Thanks to all of you!