Pork Belly

[Chris Amirault]

Doubling quantity doesn't really have an effect once you've brought the poaching liquid to temperature, does it? Thickness, on the other hand....

[AAQuesada]

Probably not. I would do two pieces of the smaller size anyway myself, just for convenience sake. It going to be easier to handle the smaller pieces with out falling apart, depending on how tender it is.

[gdenby]

Not an answer, but a side question. Are you poaching the belly with skin on or off?

[hansjoakim]

Thanks for your replies, folks!

Good point about doing it in two pieces, AAQuesada. Yesterday, I was thinking about the sizes of my pots, and I don't think a larger slab of belly would fit nicely in any of them. Two smaller ones are easier to fit in, however.

I have poached it with skin on, gdenby. I'm not sure if it would make much of a difference cutting it off, but you might loose more fat during cooking with the skin off?

[gdenby]

Thanks for the reply. My guess was that doing it skin on would be the way to go, and am glad to see that works for you.

[rotuts]

I have not been able to get Pork Belly easily. I have a trip planed to Chinatown BOS monday where I can get it,

I cant use it right away. so Id get some and use the SV bags and freeze it.

does that change any thing on the MC and MC@Home Adobo which I look forward to making, maybe in the Winter with a Snow Storm comming?

thanks

[Baselerd]

Should be fine, as long as the meat doesn't get freezer burn. Make sure it doesn't smell rancid after thawing.

I would gently urge you to make the SV pork belly (I think in MC@H it's listed in the BLT sandwich recipe) instead of pressure cooked version. Having made both I can say without a doubt the sous vide version is much better, albeit a bit more work (brined, 72-hour sous vide, then pan seared).

[Dave Hatfield]

I buy pork belly on a regular basis. Its easy to find & very cheap to buy here in France.

I freeze it most times as I like to buy when its on sale. It freezes just fine. Just make sure its well wrapped; I use zip lock type bags with as much air squeezed out as possible.

My favorite way to prepare it is a very slow roast. My recipe is on my blog.

[rotuts]

going to chinatown on mon. Ill pick up as much as I can carry, needing room for Viet Sandwiches and Roasted Pork buns.

Ill cut the belly's in 1/2 and vacuum them and freeze. they will keep that way 'fore-ever'

in the past, pre Modernist I used to liberally sprinkle this with 'rub du jour' and do them on the Webber with good wood smoke.

delicious. so Ill get all I can carry. for the winter.

DH Ill bookmark and be a keen lurker on your blog!

[radtek]

How much do you guys pay for it? At the Asian mkt by my house it's 2.59/lb.

[Dave Hatfield]

Radtek

That's a good price. I pay about € 2.95 a kilo when on sale. (about $3.77 if my conversion is correct.) Thus about $ 1.89 a pound.

Not much different, but its more when not on sale.

Rotuts

Lurk away.

[rotuts]

I was able to get to Chinatown BOS today and got some 'pork belly'

this is the best I could find and as they they there was 'no english'

note the cartilage that one sometimes sees on 'bacon' but note the ribs and how they run on the L of the photo. not may ribs in what Id call 'belly' so is this ' side meat ' of some kind?

I hope to use it for SV/BBQ/MC@H

your thoughts on this cut?

[Chris Amirault]

Looks like bone-in pork belly to me.

[rotuts]

I cant say much for your belly, but mine is boneless!

all kidding aside, the L of this 'belly' has rib bones so I guess ive always been wrong thinking 'belly is the meat around that button or side meat. I guess it runs up to include meat next to the ribs.

[radtek]

Untrimmed belly. Interesting cut. You could always trim it down yourself.

[Kerry Beal]

Great little YouTube video

of removing the spare ribs from the middle pork belly.

[rotuts]

nice vid, thanks!

so I guess 'pork belly' really is a side of pork. ribs removed for 'bacon' etc

wonder where the piggy 'flank steak' is. is that the smooth muscle seen in the above vid?

Ive always thought the 'flank steak' (beefy ones) were the abdominal muscles, is '6 pack abs' etc.

somewhat asked on maybe the SV thread or MC@H on price: these were 2.49 and I got 5.2 lbs total weight on the two pieces.

[Twyst]

If Im not mistaken, doesn't the MC Bacon recipe call for bone in belly like that?

[avaserfi]

If you want to leave more meat on the belly rather than on the bones use a rib puller (or make one using some twine and a piece wooden dowel). The linked video is how you can expect most seam butchers to cut a midsection.

[rotuts]

What a fine vid, thanks for this. and vert ingenious. several others are listed on the R side, will try this!

[Todd in Chicago]

What a fine vid, thanks for this. and vert ingenious. several others are listed on the R side, will try this!

And then of course.....there is the belly chop! Check this out: http://frombellytobacon.com/2011/03/01/the-belly-chop/ Cheers....Todd in Chicago

[thampik]

What is the latest thinking in terms of brining pork belly? Are there pros and cons re: dry vs wet brining? Does brining actually add a huge amount of flavour to pork belly?

Until fairly recently, I had never brined Pork Belly and cooked it conventionally at a fairly low temperature for about 3-4 hrs. But I have been reading with interest a fair amount of recipes that call for brining (such as Heston's 24-hr brine followed by 9+ hrs of cooking) pork belly followed by cooking at much lower temperatures for longer (not sous vide - just a low temperature oven).

Recently I dry brined 1.5 kg (skin off) Pork Belly and then cooked over 9 hrs - the end result was pretty good (but then, when is Pork Belly not good!), but I am not sure I noticed a huge amount of extra flavour. I was wondering whether wet brining would do something better? Quite a few of the recipes call for 12 hrs of dry brining vs. 24 hrs of wet brining...

[patrickamory]

Feels like bringing coals to Newcastle but what do I know!

[Baselerd]

Brining allegedly helps make the pork retain the moisture better after cooking. The result should be a more succulent cut of meat. Another secondary function of the brine is to help the meat maintain a bolder color (using instacure #1), otherwise the braised belly tends to turn a duller gray color. I've brined all of my pork bellies, but only because it seemed like the de facto thing to do. I have heard it's very delicious without brining as well...

[thampik]

Baselerd, I can testify first hand it is delicious without brining as well

I am not sure I would use brining solely for the purpose of helping it retain moisture as pork belly is not very likely to be dry. I read that chefs do it to get better flavour into the pork...and with that as the goal, I am wondering if anyone has views (or fact) regarding the pros and cons of dry vs wet brining.