David Ross

Thanks for the tips. This may be an Easter where we have both City and Country ham dishes.

Every Spring I consider whether or not I should buy a "Country" style ham to serve for Easter dinner or if I should stick with the old standard "City" style ham. It's a personal struggle between going with something quite different as the showcase of a meal that is very traditional. Sort of like serving pheasant in mushroom cream sauce rather than roasted turkey for Thanksgiving. Well, every year the rush of new ideas fades as we get closer to Easter and I end up with the less risky choice of a "City" style ham. You know the hams I'm talking about--typically cured in a sweet brine, smoked (or "smoke flavor" added), in a fairly quick, factory-style production--the "City" ham is often spiral-sliced, wrapped in purple foil and accompanied by a packet of stuff they label "brown-sugar glaze." These are decent hams that appeal to the masses. Easy to heat, easy to pull off slices and the leftover ham provides for scores of ham sandwiches. You can chuck the ham into scalloped potatoes, ham and bean soup, chopped ham salad, any number of mild ham dishes. But there's another choice out there that I'm going with this year, the vaunted "Country" style ham. (The ham that to this day my Mother claims is "too salty".) Ham made the natural way for generations--salted and sugared, hung, cured, smoked in an old tobacco barn and aged to the point where just one sliver leaves you with indelible memories of how ham should taste-salty, smokey, rich, slick and porcine. Being a product of the Pacific Northwest, I never acquired a taste for country ham when I was young. In fact, I never knew that there was such a thing as "Country" ham until our family started making annual treks to Kentucky horse country every August. It was in Kentucky, that I had my first taste of country ham. A small slice of ham blanketed between two buttermilk biscuit pillows. From that point on, I was hooked on country ham. Sort of. I know that a 14 pound haunch of country ham wouldn't be accepted for Easter dinner. Even after hours and hours of soaking the ham and baking it in a brown paper bag, my friends and family would agree with Mother-"It's too salty." But what about soaking the ham slices to leach out some of the salt, then frying them up and serving a side of red eye gravy? A country style Easter? Forget those tepid dishes using "City" ham, what about slow-cooked beans with country ham? Can we go chi-chi and wrap paper-thin shards of country ham around a luscious slice of cantalope and serve it with a honeydew sorbet? A "Country" ham certainly inspires any number of dishes that would be welcome in dining rooms in any city. Well, this week I push the button on the computer and order a fine country ham from some folks down in Kentucky, along with some sausage and bacon. What say you? "Country" or "City" ham for Easter?

The glutinous rice adds a sweet note to the pork belly is that correct?

I dined at Westward in Seattle and if you read Alan's review of the place, he doesn't really endorse it as the "Best" new restaurant in Seattle. He gives it basically a B+ which is exactly what I'd give it. As Alan writes, "In truth, it’s a little more diversity than the modest kitchen is able to handle," a fitting description of a lot of the trendy, funky places in both Seattle and Portland. They try a little hard to fuse organic, artisanal, local, Moroccan, Asian, French, Italian and that silly thing called "New American" cuisine. You know, small plates of this and that. When you live in the Northwest, it's hard to muck up a pristine oyster harvested an hour ago--but it's easy to muck up dishes with too many influences.

GQ just released Alan Richman's 2014 edition of the 25 Best New Restaurants in America. What do you think of the list? Have you dined at any of these restaurants? Are "Best New Restaurant" Lists still relevant in today's dining culture? http://www.gq.com/life/eat-and-drink/201403/best-new-restaurants-alan-richman#slide=1

Now that is a fabulous pork belly dish.

Do you prefer to bake the bacon or pan-fry? I prefer to put the slices on a rack over a cookie sheet and bake in a 400 oven, turning once or twice, until crispy.

I took the advice and was at the Asian store when they opened at 9am this morning. The meat case was full of fat, thick, meaty pork belly--at a really good price of $2.99 per pound. For comparison I went online and found two high-end sources for pork belly, both at the $25.00 per pound mark, (without shipping). This fat boy will be bacon in a few weeks, although I don't know if mine will turn out as delicious looking as what Shelby has displayed.

Wow Shelby that is a massive pork belly compared to the puny stuff I get. It would be perfect for bacon. Did you just find it at a local market or did you have to ask a butcher to order it for you? If I only lived more close to the land of pork.

This weekend I'll start on some bacon.

Anyone have any experience with making fried pork rinds from the belly? I was watching a segment on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" on Cooking Channel and I was pretty much salivating over the fried pork rinds they served at Publican in Chicago. They did show the process but not in enough detail that I could duplicate the recipe. Looks like they use the actual outer rind from the belly, then dehydrate it and then fry it. I really liked the garnish of malt vinegar powder. Any ideas on a source for the powder?

This is my Pork Belly Banh Mi-

That looks delicious. Thanks for the great tutuorial.

I've only been cooking with pork belly for a few years so recipe box is pretty limited right now. But the one pork belly recipe I've done many times is always a winner--Pork Belly Confit. It's based on a recipe from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home cookbook. I've used pieces of the finished pork belly in Banh Mi sandwiches, (at our Banh-Mi Cook-Off here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/143083-cook-off-60-banh-mi/page-3), but this rendition of pork belly is also delicious when cut into a larger cube then sauteed to crisp the skin and served with potato puree, pork jus and a huckleberry compote. You could start by brining the pork belly, but I don't think it adds much flavor and by using a "confit" style cooking method the brine won't make the pork any more tender. The tenderness comes from the slow cooking in the fat. Here's a fairly good pork belly to start, thick, meaty and a good layer of fat- I leave the rind, (outer skin), on and then submerge the pork belly in melted lard. Into a 200 oven to slowly cook for 6 hours- Here's porky after the fat bath- Then into a heavy casserole dish, strained fat poured over, then covered and chilled in the fridge for about 4 or 5 days- Then slowly melt the fat again, remove the pork belly and carefully cut off the outer rind. I found that if I left the rind on it was as tough as that shoe leather Charlie Chaplin tried to eat- Then into a hot saute pan to warm up the pork and crisp the skin- It wasn't technically a traditional Banh Mi the way I treated and cut the pork belly, but it sure was good--a good French roll, mayonnaise, cilantro, radish, cucumber, carrot, pork pate and pork belly. I won't stop at Banh Mi with this method of cooking pork belly. Really moist and yet crispy.

Looks delicious. Can you give us some details on the cooking steps?

That looks delicious. I never would have thought of poaching a pork belly but I will now.

It would be an interesting comparison to do a pork belly dish between the two--a heritage breed and a large commercially bred and raised pig. My favorite pork belly dish is done in a "confit" style and I prefer a heavier ratio of fat to meat.

So I've had this lingering question about the belly of a pig. The only local market source I have for pork belly is the local Asian market. The pork belly is cheap, but it's also fairly thin and doesn't have a lot of meat. It cooks well and works in certain dishes, but I'd probably never use it to make bacon. -Starting with the pig's family tree, does a heritage breed pig produce a more flavorful pork belly? Or, owing to its nature as a pig with a thick layer of fat, does a heritage breed Berkshire or Kurobuta have a thick enough layer of meat to produce a better belly than the factory-farm Duroc? -Does the thickness of the pork belly make any difference in the final dish?

Welcome back to a time-honored, cherished eG tradition, the eG Cook-Off Series. Today were venturing into a new world for Cook-Off's. Member Kerry Beal came forward with a Cook-Off idea we just couldn't pass up--Pork Belly--and inspired a new idea for future Cook-Off's. Knowing we're a community of great culinary minds, we'll be inviting the Members to send us ideas for potential future Cook-Off's, (more information to come later). Take it away Kerry and let's raid the larder and start cookin.

Shrimp Tostada with Roasted Tomatillo Salsa-

My favorite method is pork belly confit. It's based on a recipe from Thomas Keller. Takes time to season, cure, cook then preserve the pork belly, but it's worth it. You can follow my steps here: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/146319-eg-cook-off-64-confit/page-2

Thanks everyone for referring back to this Cook-Off and pushing out some new idea. I especially like the idea of the "folded" enchilada robirdstix and Paul, your enchilada "duo" looks delicious.

Another trick that may help prevent the tortilla's tearing is to warm them slightly between to damp kitchen towels. That small bit of water will soften them just before you start the dipping process.

Fried Sweet and Sour Baby Back Ribs. The sauce was based in Worcestershire and ketchup. I know, not really authentic Chinese cuisine but very tasty. The hardest task was cutting the rack of ribs in half to make little riblets.

I'm thinking about doing a beef tongue confit. However, I'm not sure how or when I should do the salting stage. Typically I boil tongue first, not only to cook it but to be able to remove the outer skin. If I salt the tongue and let it cure a few days, will the salt penetrate through that thick layer of outer skin? And will the salt then start to cure the meat? I could boil the tongue, remove the skin and then cure it in lard, but I think eliminating that salting stage would rob the tongue of classic confit technique and flavor? Any ideas?