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eG Cook-Off #65: Pork Belly


David Ross

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I'll be looking for a commercial pork belly with bone in, as meaty and fatty as possible.

I'll be using a pressure cooker, as it is the anti-sous vide and bears some similarity to slow roasting. The dry steam penetrates effectively at 225 F - 250 F, and there is no turbulence on the bottom as long as the steam release is quiet, not hissing. Since the vessel is sealed, moistness is retained while the collagen breaks down.

How long do you cook it for? Do you use a natural release? Do you then weight it down and refrigerate it before, say, searing it?

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Well I chose this http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Crispy-Roast-Pork-Siew-Yoke recipe for my contribution. However, something didn't work well and to add to my misery I deleted the photographs. The pork is tasty but nowhere near tender and succulent and the skin crisped only slightly at the very edges as it was blackening rather than crisping. I have cut up most of it and stuck it in the freezer. It will get used up eventually. I suspect it needed much longer in the oven and that lowering the oven shelf while broiling might have made a difference. Anxious to try again when I can find another belly.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

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I posted on the wrong thread lol. Rather than repost the picture , here is what I'm working with this time:

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/20297-pork-belly/?p=1953664

It has a lot more meaty goodness on it than the last one that I did, SO, I decided to do Siu Yook again.

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thank you . this one ?

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/128753-roast-crispy-pork-aka-chinese-siu-yook/

i have two vac packed bellies in the freezer uncooked. mine have the cartilage bits on one end.

Ive tried to figure out where on the pig these come from but can only think the median rib cage.

Ill try to bring them out and do something with them if the snow ever stops. Mine would need a visit at then end on the

Weber, currently buried deep.

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thank you . this one ?

http://forums.egullet.org/topic/128753-roast-crispy-pork-aka-chinese-siu-yook/

i have two vac packed bellies in the freezer uncooked. mine have the cartilage bits on one end.

Ive tried to figure out where on the pig these come from but can only think the median rib cage.

Ill try to bring them out and do something with them if the snow ever stops. Mine would need a visit at then end on the

Weber, currently buried deep.

Yes, that's the one :)

I have scored, salted, vodkad and marinated. Mr. Pork is now resting in the fridge. I let it rest for 48 hours last time and will probably do that again. We will visit Mr. P on Tuesday.

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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-

Pork belly 1.png

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-

Pork belly 2.png

Here's porky after the fat bath-

Pork belly 3.png

Then into a heavy casserole dish, strained fat poured over, then covered and chilled in the fridge for about 4 or 5 days-

Pork belly 4.png

Pork belly 5.png

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-

Pork belly 6.png

Then into a hot saute pan to warm up the pork and crisp the skin-

Pork belly 7.png

Pork belly 8.png

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.

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Ooooooo !  Oooooooooooooooooo !

 

PB  : you win !

 

please consider sharing that Rx for thew PaulB S&S PB:

 

times etc etc. if you will

 

I wont share it !

 

so delicious looking.   love the 'crust'

RT...falling back to the serious eats..sous vide pork belly.

The belly is sous vide..170 for 10 hrs. Cool in bag and defatted the next day

In prep #1--I removed the belly and just pan seared

In prep #2-- I roasted the belly with the liquid, reserved from sous vide, @375F for about an hr...this I never basted..cuz I didn't want a soy bomb...but just the heat created this exterior glazed. Wasn't to salty..nice sweetness with the pineapple.

Its good to have Morels

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Chanko-nabe miso-aji.

Patterned after the recipe here. (scroll down to the bottom) I adjusted some of the quantities (e.g. much more sake, more daikon, etc). I also made dashi from katsuobushi (shaved bonito) before adding in the dashi stock ("flakes"). Also simmered the pork belly slices for longer than in the recipe.

Pork belly, sliced up. Half skin-on, half skin-off.

DSCN0558a_1k.jpg

The katsuobushi I used. This went into the 10 cups of simmering water, (whole package), the mixture stirred & brought back to a fast simmer; then all the solids fished out with a fine-meshed large sieve.

DSCN0560a_1k.jpg

DSCN0562a_1k.jpg

The dashi stock (a little less than in the recipe) then went in; followed by the pork belly slices, then the sake (I used ryori-shu) and mirin (I used mirin-fuu). More ryori-shu (and a bit more mirin) than in the recipe; adjusted to my taste.

DSCN0565a_1k.jpg

The mirin-fuu (on the left) and ryori-shu (on the right) I used.

DSCN0568a_1k.jpg

The dashi stock I used.

DSCN0570a_1k.jpg

Aka miso (red miso) and (mutenka) shiro miso (white miso) was slurried w/ some water and added in to the pot, adjusted somewhat to taste.

The miso pastes I used.

DSCN0581a_1k.jpg

The veggies and some other stuff:

Left to right: daikon (peeled), fresh shiitake mushrooms, fresh thick-cap Chinese-type far-koo mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, bunapi-shimeji mushrooms (white beech), nira (Chinese garlic chives).

At bottom: a pack of abura-age.

DSCN0574a_1k.jpg

Stuff after being cut up; plus large cubes of drained firm tofu.

DSCN0577a_1k.jpg

Potatoes (Red Pontiac), carrots, an onion.

DSCN0585a_1k.jpg

Carrots, potatoes, daikon, onion (all sliced up) in the simmering soup.

DSCN0586a_1k.jpg

The rest of the stuff, plus cut-up washed Napa cabbage (not pictured above) added in.

DSCN0589a_1k.jpg

A bowl of the completed chanko-nabe miso-aji.

DSCN0591a_1k.jpg

Edited by huiray (log)
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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?

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I made this a few weeks ago.

Pork.JPG

Braised in cider and chicken stock with a few aromats and then deep fried. Tender meat and the crackling was like shards of glass. Hmmm.

The intention was to sous vide it rather than braise but I was too impatient to wait the 2 days. When you want pork, you want pork now!

Seeing as though I had the fryer on the go I did a black pudding and apple croquette with it as well.

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Braised in cider and chicken stock with a few aromats and then deep fried. Tender meat and the crackling was like shards of glass. Hmmm.

The intention was to sous vide it rather than braise but I was too impatient to wait the 2 days. When you want pork, you want pork now!

A not too large pork belly like yours should respond well to pressure cooking 1 hour or less. The collagen, fat, and skin will soften and the meat will not overcook, as it is subjected to 240 F steam heat similar to enclosed oven heat for an hour.

Finishing by deep frying should crisp the skin. (I rarely deep fry).

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I was thinking about what to make for lunch and thought of babi assam with pork belly - then remembered that I had posted about it before on eG. :-) Have a look here, scroll down to the fourth "sub-entry".

Here's another picture focusing on that dish:

DSCN0052b_1k.jpg

The ingredients comprised pork belly (skin on), green chillies, salted soy beans, tamarind, oil, salt, sugar, water, candlenuts, shallots, shrimp paste (belacan).

p.s. This is considered to be another Peranakan (a.k.a. Nyonya) dish, as I indicated when I referred to it in my post from the dinner thread.

Edited by huiray
Updated link (log)
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Braised in cider and chicken stock with a few aromats and then deep fried. Tender meat and the crackling was like shards of glass. Hmmm.

The intention was to sous vide it rather than braise but I was too impatient to wait the 2 days. When you want pork, you want pork now!

A not too large pork belly like yours should respond well to pressure cooking 1 hour or less. The collagen, fat, and skin will soften and the meat will not overcook, as it is subjected to 240 F steam heat similar to enclosed oven heat for an hour.

Finishing by deep frying should crisp the skin. (I rarely deep fry).

Noted, thanks.

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Pork belly

Image 4.jpg

After scoring, salt and vodka

Image 2.jpg

After resting for 2 days in the fridge

Image.jpg

Right before I'm getting ready to have a huge piece

Image 1.jpg

OMG this one was better. Lots more meat.

I'm ready for another pork belly!

Oh and the last pic is after rubbing the hoisin mixture on

Image 3.jpg

Edited by Shelby (log)
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I decided today to use one of the 2 PB's pic'd above. After all, this was No Snow Day !

I had moderate low expectations. Why ? some time ago, before the internet and eG' I did PB's on my weber, low and slow with a

'rub' same as i did Pork ribs. it was outstanding and delicious. but too fatty for me.

....

I decided to learn from this so used what I had around: I scored the top :

PB 1.jpg

and used a Sauer's Pork Rub, as I had it:

https://www.cfsauer.com/

then I roasted it for 30 min in the BV-XL at 400 ( no particular reason ) to get some color:

PB II.jpg

then turned the BV down to 220 for 2 hours ( you have to reset ) and checked the temp and added

one more hour : TermaPen at 175:

PB III.jpg

tried the skin: not so good, so took it off.

PB IV.jpg

added some Maesri Sweet Chili sauce, under the broiler, about three times:

PB V.jpg

getting there :

PB VI.jpg

saving the rest for a Sandwich w/wo soup tomorrow.

Ill do this again, and work a bit harder on the skin and make a rub/glaze just for this

delicious not too greasy.

:biggrin:

Ill also add time on the 'bake' to get the ThermoPen to 185 or so

Edited by rotuts (log)
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Looks delicious!!! Melt in your mouth goodness!

I bet if you torched the skin on top for a bit or broiled it, you would have liked it. To me (and I've very new at this so you might not want to listen lol) the skin doesn't look done enough to be crunchy.

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