Pork Belly

[mags]

I love pork belly, and have sometimes been lucky enough to buy the "wild boar" belly from the fella at the Union Square Greenmarket who sells "wild boar." But half the time he's gone by the time I get my lazy butt over to 16th Street. Does anybody have another NYC source?

[wesza]

I never appreciated the nuances of "Pork Belly" as being special until I had the opportunity to enjoy it in it's many variations in Chinese Ethinic Cusine.

My two favorites are both served with Pickled Vegetables both are excellent and take the Flavors and Tastes to new heights. They are "Hakka" and "Szechwan" both are very delicious.

However the traditional "Shanghai" preperation is in it's own special place. I've never been interested in eating Fat as something super special but anyone who has tried a perfectly cooked Shanghai Pork Belly will ever feel that way again. The Fat is almost translucent, needs to be served on a spoon and is sweeter and richer then Normandy Butter when mixed with some rice and the sauce it's not unusual for diners to close their eyes and sigh.

I enjoy Hunter Double Smoked Bacon and the Hakka and Szechwan Pork Belly but i've ordered at several Shanghai Restaurants in The States and Canada but haven't had anything comparable. It's one of the few dishes that I dream about but haven't been able to express my feeling except to someone else who shared the experience.

Irwin

[Dejah]

Pork ku lo yuk with sweet 'n'sour subgum: Used to cut the pork belly into one inch cubes, egg wash and lightly covered with CRACKER crumbs, deep fried a golden colour then ladled some translucent sweet 'n' sour sauce over the top. Served with a scattering of pickled subgum, a restaurant favorite.

At home, I like to steam left over crispy BBQ pork belly with shrimp paste, eat with a big bowl of jasmin rice...comfort food!

[Gary Soup]

1. Cut pork belly into 0.5mm slices. Season with s&p +/- cooking wine.

My knife's not that sharp! Maybe 5mm?

My wife hongshao's it in inch-wide hunks. Makes it easier for me to peel off the fat layers and feel less guilty about eating it.

Sometimes she cooks it with hardboiled eggs, in case I'm feeling chlolesterol-deprived.

[Ben Hong]

Halleluija, the masses have discovered our secret, now the pork belly futures will skyrocket Streaky belly pork is the ONLY cut of pork suitable to serve in some households before dat scary ole debil cholesterol raised its fat head. What took everybody so long to "discover" fatty pork belly????

Dejah, you mentioned leftover roast pork belly with shrimp sauce, I like fresh fatty belly with shrimp sauce, sprinkled with ginger and scallion slivers. Eating it takes me back to cuddling in my mothers lap while being fed chopstickful by chopstickful. AAAAHHHHHH!!!

The other great dish is kou yuk. But I mustn't forget lop yuk steamed on top of cooking rice.

[Dejah]

Eating it takes me back to cuddling in my mothers lap while being fed chopstickful by chopstickful. AAAAHHHHHH!!!

The other great dish is  kou yuk. But I mustn't forget lop yuk steamed on top of cooking rice.

Ben: KOU yuk...same as ku lo yuk as I described in my first post?

Chopstickfull...hmmm I liked it better when grandma fed me by the porcelain spoonful

Lop yuk steamed on top of cooking rice, add some lop gnap and lap cheung...

now THAT should really go in the winter Chinese cooking thread! Then the burnt rice on the bottom of the pot, wetted down with hot water is so delicious...we fight over it

[wesza]

Eating it takes me back to cuddling in my mothers lap while being fed chopstickful by chopstickful. AAAAHHHHHH!!!

The other great dish is  kou yuk. But I mustn't forget lop yuk steamed on top of cooking rice.

Ben: KOU yuk...same as ku lo yuk as I described in my first post?

Chopstickfull...hmmm I liked it better when grandma fed me by the porcelain spoonful

Lop yuk steamed on top of cooking rice, add some lop gnap and lap cheung...

now THAT should really go in the winter Chinese cooking thread! Then the burnt rice on the bottom of the pot, wetted down with hot water is so delicious...we fight over it

Dejah & Ben:::

Since your going back to Grandma and moms i'll bring you both back to memory lane. At least i'm tummy sure, cause in winter there three other majic ingredients required for babys and children.

Pressed Oil Duck

Translucent Duck Sausages

Winter Lap Cheong

made on top of the steamed rice.

and for party's or special occasions

Whole Steamed Winter Melon Soup with Yunnan Ham, Ginkos and Flowers.

Do you remember ?

Irwin

[Dejah]

Irwin:>Whole Steamed Winter Melon Soup with Yunnan Ham, Ginkos and Flowers.

Do you remember ?

Darn you! It's still -35C and and I am without whole winter melon! However, I do have a quarter, so will make my quarter melon soup for supper tonight, with sliced pork belly steamed with ham choy and slivered ginger

Someone mentioned that the price of pork belly will go up now that it's been "discovered". That happened about 4 years ago in our area. Pork belly used to be one of the cheaper cuts, so ku lo yuk was a mainstay in our buffet. Then the price went double, and it became a menu item instead.

[Ben Hong]

"Kou yuk" or kow yuk, is boiled, deep fried and then steamed for a long time with red fermented bean curd, a little sugar, anise, etc. Lawdy it's lunch time, I gotta go and EAT a ham sandwich

[BettyK]

Two favorites:

One is steamed with soya sauce, shiitake and dried shrimps.

The other one is braised with fermented red rice, red wine and dried shimps.

To die for.

[tissue]

Simmer in a pot with water and star anise very slowly, sort of blanching it before braising it in shaoshin wine, water, soy sauce, rock sugar, brown sugar, and a few white peppercorns.

[BettyK]

Simmer in a pot with water and star anise very slowly, sort of blanching it before braising it in shaoshin wine, water, soy sauce, rock sugar, brown sugar, and a few white peppercorns.

Tissue, is there any particular reason why the star anise goes in the blanching instead of braising liquid?

[helenas]

i'm always in search of interesting ways to prepare a pork belly, and today had a very positive outcome with a recipe coming from Paul Gayler, one of my favorite cookbook authors (and london restaurateur) who definitely deserves to be better known... A piece of pork belly braised in flavor intense liquid consisting of plum sauce, hot bean sauce, rice vinegar, soy sauce, brown chicken jus and several aromatics.

Edited January 18, 2004 by helenas (log)

[ellencho]

Pork belly is delicious. Koreans use it and love it too. To whoever asked about a better place to get pork belly in NYC try 32nd St's Koreatown (between broadway and 5th). There's plenty of Korean supermarkets there (I can't recall the names) but they all should sell pork belly - either sold in slabs or sold sliced. I'll cook the thinly sliced belly in a cast iron pan until crispy. The slabs I'll bake in the oven at a high temp - say, 425 degrees, coated in a bit of salt pepper and oil so that the skin can crisp up.

[tissue]

Simmer in a pot with water and star anise very slowly, sort of blanching it before braising it in shaoshin wine, water, soy sauce, rock sugar, brown sugar, and a few white peppercorns.

Tissue, is there any particular reason why the star anise goes in the blanching instead of braising liquid?

I watched my ex roommate's dad cook it like this. And it came out delicious. I think he left the star anise (he had it in a spice pack tied up with cheesecloth)in there after pouring out the blanching water and rinsing the belly really well. I think the whole point of it was to get rid of any bloody flavor.

If you have any leftover brasing liquid, I recommend using it to braise some chicken legs and chicken wings. I always save the liquid to braise the chicken because it makes the sauce taste better. I like to toss noodles with some of the sauce and garnish with chopped cilantro.

And if you still have leftover braising liquid after that, some tofu and various tofu products. Make sure to blanch the tofu products before braising but you don't have to with chicken. Oh yeah, the tofu products change the flavor of the liquid. So you can't braise meat anymore in it because the taste will be off. Yeah you can really get a lot out of this sauce. Taste and reseason each time accordingly, if it's too salty, dilute with water. It should be saltier though, so whatever you are cooking isn't bland, especially stuff like tofu squares or tofu skin (yuba).

Since I've praised this braising liquid so much I would just like to note that you the orginal liquid should be proportionate to the size of the pork belly you are cooking, which is just barely covering it. Or else the belly will come out ok but the sauce might be not as flavorful and just like soy sauce and water.

[jo-mel]

I made Hui Guo Rou - Twice/Double Fried Pork - in a cooking class, recently.

Everyone looked at the fresh pork belly with a 'eeeeuuuuuuuu' look, and the blanched piece of pork didn't make them feel any better. BUT, when they had the final dish, they absolutely loved it, and a new respect was born!

[ruthcooks]

How amusing for an old-time country meat to become fashionable. Here's the way we used to eat it down on the farm. Of course, then we butchered our own hogs, but here are directions for purchasing.

Order a whole side of pork. Instruct the butcher to remove the rind, partially freeze the meat and slice as for thick sliced bacon. There will be enough slices for several meals. Extra may be frozen with waxed paper between layers.

Cut slices in half for more manageable pieces. Salt and pepper slices and dredge in flour. Arrange in a single layer in a cast iron skillet or other frying pan. Cook over medium heat until brown and crisp, turning as necessary. No need to add fat, as the fat will soon melt out of the meat. Remove slices when done, and keep adding layers and frying until desired amount is cooked. This is so irresistible that you will need more than you think.

Drain off most of the fat and make a cream gravy of the drippings. Serve with boiled potatoes and homemade applesauce.

This is actually my favorite country style meal, but I haven't had it in years.

Edited February 10, 2004 by ruthcooks (log)

[kangarool]

Simmer in a pot with water and star anise very slowly, sort of blanching it before braising it in shaoshin wine, water, soy sauce, rock sugar, brown sugar, and a few white peppercorns.

Tissue, is there any particular reason why the star anise goes in the blanching instead of braising liquid?

I watched my ex roommate's dad cook it like this. And it came out delicious. I think he left the star anise (he had it in a spice pack tied up with cheesecloth)in there after pouring out the blanching water and rinsing the belly really well. I think the whole point of it was to get rid of any bloody flavor.

If you have any leftover brasing liquid, I recommend using it to braise some chicken legs and chicken wings. I always save the liquid to braise the chicken because it makes the sauce taste better. I like to toss noodles with some of the sauce and garnish with chopped cilantro.

And if you still have leftover braising liquid after that, some tofu and various tofu products. Make sure to blanch the tofu products before braising but you don't have to with chicken. Oh yeah, the tofu products change the flavor of the liquid. So you can't braise meat anymore in it because the taste will be off. Yeah you can really get a lot out of this sauce. Taste and reseason each time accordingly, if it's too salty, dilute with water. It should be saltier though, so whatever you are cooking isn't bland, especially stuff like tofu squares or tofu skin (yuba).

Since I've praised this braising liquid so much I would just like to note that you the orginal liquid should be proportionate to the size of the pork belly you are cooking, which is just barely covering it. Or else the belly will come out ok but the sauce might be not as flavorful and just like soy sauce and water.

Thanks tissue, this looks like the recipe I've been looking for, for my inaugural pork belly cooking.

What kind of texture does the belly end up with, after the braising? The ones I love most in restaurants are those that are succulently soft overall, but with a great crisped skin… would I need to do more, after the braising, to get the skin crisp? I don’t presume you’d end up with the skin very crisp after the braising, but I’m not sure what I would do to get it? I'd love any advice anyone can give...

[FoodZealot]

Prefer it Chinese barbeque style as you'd find in Chinatown where the skin is crunchy/crispy and blistered with bubbles. Soooo different from American BBQ.

I loves the Pork.

Would someone be able to help with the Chinese name for the barbeque pork that mudbug mentions? In Hawai`i I only heard it called simply "Chinese Roast Pork". I believe it is made with the meatier part of the belly. The skin is almost as crispy as Mexican chicharrones. Any thoughts about preparation methods and flavorings would be most appreciated as well. Thanks!

[tissue]

Simmer in a pot with water and star anise very slowly, sort of blanching it before braising it in shaoshin wine, water, soy sauce, rock sugar, brown sugar, and a few white peppercorns.

Tissue, is there any particular reason why the star anise goes in the blanching instead of braising liquid?

I watched my ex roommate's dad cook it like this. And it came out delicious. I think he left the star anise (he had it in a spice pack tied up with cheesecloth)in there after pouring out the blanching water and rinsing the belly really well. I think the whole point of it was to get rid of any bloody flavor.

If you have any leftover brasing liquid, I recommend using it to braise some chicken legs and chicken wings. I always save the liquid to braise the chicken because it makes the sauce taste better. I like to toss noodles with some of the sauce and garnish with chopped cilantro.

And if you still have leftover braising liquid after that, some tofu and various tofu products. Make sure to blanch the tofu products before braising but you don't have to with chicken. Oh yeah, the tofu products change the flavor of the liquid. So you can't braise meat anymore in it because the taste will be off. Yeah you can really get a lot out of this sauce. Taste and reseason each time accordingly, if it's too salty, dilute with water. It should be saltier though, so whatever you are cooking isn't bland, especially stuff like tofu squares or tofu skin (yuba).

Since I've praised this braising liquid so much I would just like to note that you the orginal liquid should be proportionate to the size of the pork belly you are cooking, which is just barely covering it. Or else the belly will come out ok but the sauce might be not as flavorful and just like soy sauce and water.

Thanks tissue, this looks like the recipe I've been looking for, for my inaugural pork belly cooking.

What kind of texture does the belly end up with, after the braising? The ones I love most in restaurants are those that are succulently soft overall, but with a great crisped skin… would I need to do more, after the braising, to get the skin crisp? I don’t presume you’d end up with the skin very crisp after the braising, but I’m not sure what I would do to get it? I'd love any advice anyone can give...

I don't know, you may be able to roast it.

But for my recipe, the skin comes out soft. It's not supposed to be crispy. Most chinese recipes for pork belly the skin will not be crispy unless it's the Cantonese style roasted piglet. But I don't really know how to make that. I usually buy it. Maybe someone can help with that.

Maybe you aren't looking for a Chinese recipe for pork belly.

[trillium]

I loves the Pork.

Would someone be able to help with the Chinese name for the barbeque pork that mudbug mentions? In Hawai`i I only heard it called simply "Chinese Roast Pork". I believe it is made with the meatier part of the belly. The skin is almost as crispy as Mexican chicharrones. Any thoughts about preparation methods and flavorings would be most appreciated as well. Thanks!

Su yuk (Cantonese).

Most of the time I see it, it's the whole piglet, but the belly is what gets roasted if you're just roasting a piece. Yan Kit So's Classic Chinese Cooking has a recipe.

regards,

trillium

[herbacidal]

Absolutely love it. One of my all time favorite foods, definitely in the top three.

Prefer it Chinese barbeque style as you'd find in Chinatown where the skin is crunchy/crispy and blistered with bubbles. Soooo different from American BBQ.

Tad,

I would call it "siu yook" in Cantonese.

Usually the skin is crunchy but crispier and not as smooth as Latino.

Hmm, I guess that's what mudbug mean by "bubbles".

Ideally you want the part of the roast pork with skin and a decent amount of fat.

If you were to ask for it in a Chinese butcher shop, it'd be pronounced

"boon fay souwl" in Cantonese meaning "half fat lean".

Edited February 13, 2004 by herbacidal (log)

[FoodZealot]

Thanks, trillium and herbacidal - much appreciated!

[PCL]

My wife came across some nice looking pork belly at the butcher this morning and she picked up a slab just 'cos they looked the way they did, irresistible. Now, normally, I'd buy something like that with some kind of end result in mind, but alas, I was home with my foot up following a nasty bicycle-and-kid-running-off-the-footpath accident last weekend. Nevertheless, I was tasked with putting the thing on the dinner table minus several key ingredients in the kitchen (I haven't been out much since the ankle got wrecked).

To cut a long afternoon short, I whacked together some roughly chopped onion, smacked flat some ginger and a couple garlic cloves, browned them in some oil in the cast iron pot, tossed in the chopped belly, cup of light soy, cup of dark soy, Chinese rock sugar a single lump of, ground black pepper, salt, couple ladlefuls of simmering chicken stock, covered the whole thing on a low, i mean, low, heat... it's a basic Chinese 'red-cooked' belly, but minus rice wine, minus star anise... but still good I thought, with a few bay leaves thrown in...

...now, the question... I'd bounced around a couple pages of Larousse, a couple pages here in eGullet, and here and there, but am not sure whether we've had a discussion on this most noble cut of pig. Say, if you were like me, caught out with pork belly and had to do something with it quick and on the spot, with stuff just in the kitchen, and without trying to win a couple stars, what would you do?... roast? braise?... and to get the skin crisp...

...one way I could have approached it would have been to just to simmer the belly whole in a pot of water till cooked, refreshed and left to cool, then sliced thin and serve with fluffy rice and a bowl of light soy with fresh chopped chillies and minced garlic.... minimalist simplicity... but it's still cold here in London, UK, and we needed something warm with a sauce that we could pour over bowls of steaming rice (rice cooker cooked!!)

Anything you'd like to share would be gratefully received.

Edited February 21, 2004 by PCL (log)

[bottomlesspit]

I get this thinly sliced like bacon and make spicy Korean BBQ pork (dweh-ji bulgogi) out of it. It's not that saucy, but with a bowl of steamed rice, it makes a great one dish meal.

Here's the rub - I never measure (with devices, that is) when I cook, so if you can take these ingredients and treat them as you would any other combination of marinade ingredients (i.e., portioning salty to sweet to spicy elements, bearing in mind that kochu jahng is both a spicy and salty element), I think you'll like the result. But I will approximate to the best of my ability.

1/2 C Soy Sauce

1 tablespoon Kochu jahng (Korean red chili paste)

2-3 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon minced ginger

1-2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 teaspoons sesame oil

2 chopped green onions

water to dilute saltiness if needed

The marinated bacon can be sauteed until fat is translucent or cooked under the broiler or on the grill (the last is a bit of the pain to clean up w/ the caramelized marinade).

If you try it, please let me know what you think!

Oh, another way Koreans eat this cut is to boil it (I like to add salt, garlic and onion to the boil), cut in thin slices and make lettuce wraps with either a doctored up kochu jahng or dwen jahng (Korean soy bean paste) and other veggies - usually small, mild chili peppers and spears of fresh pickling cukes for dipping, sesame (perilla) leaves and chrysanthemum leaves for wrapping with the lettuce. (And a small spoonful of rice, too!) An acquired taste if you're not Korean, but I love this stuff! We'll also do this lettuce wrap treatment with the spicy BBQ pork - that's double goodness.

Pork belly is a wondrous thing.