Why would you take the skin off pork belly?

[ChrisTaylor]

- to cook both the skin and meat perfectly. See also Heston Blumenthal's Perfection episode about duck.

- to make two dishes. Using Chang's Momofuku book as an example, purely because it's on my mind at the moment, you could make the pork belly for ramen and the pork rinds.

- to cave to the wishes of the glutenfreeorganicveganlowgilowcarblowsalthighquackeryhealthbullshitcommunist mob.

Edited November 1, 2013 by ChrisTaylor (log)

[Paul Higham]

The only time I would remove the skin from pork belly is if I wanted to cook it separate from the main belly to make it crisp, before adding back at service. Far far too good to waste!

[chezcherie]

if you have it, I'd leave it on. My Berkshire place always takes it off, simply because the beasts are very hairy and they don't have the facility to scald and remove the hair, and even if, (they tried it once) it takes a lot of work and time to scrape all that hair off. So, they skin it. I still have some trotters they gave me for free in the freezer, all hair on. I have no idea how to get it off in a reasonable amount of time and might just toss them. I can't see myself scalding, scraping, shaving, and then burning off the last bits. There are also cuts in the skin as they simply just lopped them off to compost, so I could not use these to stuff them, which I had planned to do.

That the skin is toxic, I don't know, never heard that and unless you eat pork belly every day, I'd not worry. And if you do eat it every day, there are probably other more weighing things to worry about ;-)

my berkshire purveyor has also mentioned this--they are black haired, and he says customers are put off by the stray black hairs, so they skin them. i'm sure they don't discard the skin due to pig toxins, though...(puhlease..)

[huiray]

It *is* odd, about that sous-chef at Per Se expounding on toxins being processed in pig skin - and human skin (and presumably not elsewhere). Is that person still there at Per Se, and if so how do they regard his, um, food credentials?

Edited November 2, 2013 by huiray (log)

[Shalmanese]

It *is* odd, about that sous-chef at Per Se expounding on toxins being processed in pig skin - and human skin (and presumably not elsewhere). Is that person still there at Per Se, and if so how do they regard his, um, food credentials?

You can believe a lot of wacky things that are only incidentally about cooking and still be a great cook. Eric Ripert for example, believes that menstruating women can't make mayonnaise without it breaking.

[Mjx]

. So apparently pigs process all the bodies toxins in there skin, just like humans. They eat a lot of food devoid of nutrition "pig slop", feces, other pigs.

This is a load of hog swill. Neither pigs nor people "process all the bodies toxins" in their skin. That's the liver that does that mostly. Some toxic things (as well as vitamins) can linger in fat, but that's an exception.

The skin is part of the excretory system, and particularly if one of the other parts of the system is overloaded (e.g. kidneys), the skin will excrete (and by extension, contain) various undesirable substances. I doubt it would be enough to be a problem, unless you're eating an awful lot of the skin, although this would probably also depend on what was in the animals' feed (and if the level of some substance was high enough to be excreted by the skin, there would also be plenty of it held in the fat). If you're eating pork that's been fed cleanly, this shouldn't be an issue.

[gfweb]

Excreting is not detoxifying which was the term used in the ridiculous original post. The: skin is not at all part of the excretory system ( kidney liver bowel bladder). It will "leak" stuff that's in high concentration in the blood eg urea in renal failure but that's not purposeful controlled excretion. A niggling issue to be sure but what's eG for if not niggling.

[dcarch]

"--------Excreting is not detoxifying----"

Excretion has been the source of food (fertilizer) for all living organisms since the "Big Bang".

Toxic?

dcarch

[Mjx]

Excreting is not detoxifying which was the term used in the ridiculous original post. The: skin is not at all part of the excretory system ( kidney liver bowel bladder). It will "leak" stuff that's in high concentration in the blood eg urea in renal failure but that's not purposeful controlled excretion. A niggling issue to be sure but what's eG for if not niggling.

The skin is part of the excretory system (e.g. http://www.cape.ca/children/derm1.html I don't have time at the moment to copy out the entry from Dorland's). It may not be a beautiful thought, but there it is.

[gfweb]

That's what they say. I say it isn't and certainly not an important part of it.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

"--------Excreting is not detoxifying----"

Excretion has been the source of food (fertilizer) for all living organisms since the "Big Bang".

Toxic?

dcarch

Yes, but only if you're eating the excretions, rather than the things you're using them to fertilize.... As a species, we do actually eat excreta in some forms (Aspartame comes to mind; it's bacterial excreta) but in all honest I'd far rather have a plate full of tomatoes than a plate full of the cuy fertilizer I use on them.... It would be better for me, too. Unlike dogs, our digestive systems are not set up to process "recycled foods" that way.

ETA - I don't usually take the skin off of my pork belly unless I want chicharrones; I don't eat a whole lot of pig skin, but it does add a certain something to fritadas that would be completely absent otherwise....

Edited November 2, 2013 by Panaderia Canadiense (log)

[Mjx]

That's what they say. I say it isn't and certainly not an important part of it.

Eh.. no. That's what science says. It's also the reason people with kidney failure sometimes smell like urine; the kidneys can't handle the job well, and the skin takes over part of ot.

But that's not the point here; that was whether or not this should be a serious concern, and as far as I know, there's no reason for most people to worry about it.

[gfweb]

That's what they say. I say it isn't and certainly not an important part of it.

Eh.. no. That's what science says. It's also the reason people with kidney failure sometimes smell like urine; the kidneys can't handle the job well, and the skin takes over part of ot.

But that's not the point here; that was whether or not this should be a serious concern, and as far as I know, there's no reason for most people to worry about it.

Eh no. That's what your reference says. One reference does not speak for all of "science" esp a non-peer-reviewed website.

But lets not squabble.

[rotuts]

"""" the excretory system ( kidney liver bowel bladder) """

you forgot the most the most vital excretory system of them all : the lungs ! think of what all the CO₂

would do to you if your lungs took a TimeOut !

I know some people eat the 'lights' of some animals. I dont not that they are toxic or anything ...

( could not resist )

the article on children's skin is basically correct perhaps a little slanted. what the skin does not do

is accumulate and store toxins. 90 % of the liver metabolizes various toxins, and excretes bile.

Bile is not too tasty, IMHO

Edited November 2, 2013 by rotuts (log)

[AAQuesada]

I don't know. Why would you?

20071125_215451.JPG

Best master stock pork belly I'e ever cooked that crackle was about 25mm high

That is awesome! How did you get it to crackle like that?!

[DanMLondon]

Surely alot of the toxins/bacteria you speak of would be killed off during cooking? Like many people talk about chickens being generally toxic raw because of the amount of bacteria present but once cooked at the proper temp it kills it off? I for one would risk it anyway as I love me some pork skin.

Imagine an epidemic in health and saftey where all pork crackling/stratchings were banned what would the pubs do!?!

[jsager01]

the pubs could then serve chicken crackling/scratchings, or tim sum style chicken feet, or deep fried fish/salmon skins :-))

[DanMLondon]

the pubs could then serve chicken crackling/scratchings, or tim sum style chicken feet, or deep fried fish/salmon skins :-))

They could indeed - chicken skin would be great but I doubt it would match a big chunk of pork scratching!

[dcarch]

There should be a rule here. Whoever discards pork belly skin is to be banned in disgrace.

dcarch :-)

Sous Vide Pork Belly With Cracklin Skin

Edited November 7, 2013 by dcarch (log)

[rotuts]

dcarch

please offer more info on that belly: times and temps, crackling

delicious I bet.

[dcarch]

dcarch

please offer more info on that belly: times and temps, crackling

delicious I bet.

Thanks rotus.

The detailed method is posted on the Dinner thread.

dcarch

[ermintrude]

It *is* odd, about that sous-chef at Per Se expounding on toxins being processed in pig skin - and human skin (and presumably not elsewhere). Is that person still there at Per Se, and if so how do they regard his, um, food credentials?

You can believe a lot of wacky things that are only incidentally about cooking and still be a great cook. Eric Ripert for example, believes that menstruating women can't make mayonnaise without it breaking.

Interesting, a friend of mine who is a female head chef, told me she can't make mayonnaise at that time of the month. I'd never heard of Eric Ripert comment before.

[Blether]

If there's enough skin, you can turn it into pretty good gloves.

Edited November 8, 2013 by Blether (log)