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Pork Belly recipes

Rory_22257

Hi All,

Love the site, visit it alot!

I'm having guests next week (middle of the work week) and I am wanting to make a nice casual dinner for them. I'm thinking pork belly mainly because it tastes so damn good! (and it is fairly cheap around here sometimes).

However I am stuck for ideas. I need it to be relatively easy to finish off as I will only have 2 - 3 hours after work.

[b]What I'm after[/b]:
- Something casual maybe with a BBQ feel / finish to it. Burgers or a BBQ meal or a roast type meal etc... not 'fine dining food'
- Something that is easy to finish off. I don't mind a bit of prep work this weekend but it will have to keep for a few days
- Something that tastes damn good!
- Times and temps

[b]What I have[/b]:
- Pork Belly
- PolyScience Sous Vide
- Food saver vac machine
- Pressure cooker
- ISI cream whipper
- Weber Charcoal BBQ

[b]What I originally had in mind[/b]:
- First I thought of cooking the belly as a slab for a couple of days, chilling, then slicing into relatively thick slices (5 - 10mm thick) frying off or glazing and finishing on the BBQ and using them in burgers. However I thought this might be a bit much/a bit rich. Thoughts

Thoughts and suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thanks

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Comments

seijoed

Pork belly with an acidic slaw would work, it cuts the richness, sliders maybe?

Or something like the recipe just posted on the Course?

The carnitas - http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/kung-pao-carnitas

Rory_22257

Thanks Johan, I did look at that recipe and despite having an impressive spice drawer Achiote paste is a little out of my reach on such short notice (as usual I'm leaving things to the last minute).

For a little additional information:

There will be 5-6 people (2 Vegetarians and 3-4 Omnivores) which is why I originally thought burgers/sliders. I also have a second cook who will be doing the vege side of things so I can concentrate on the meat.

seijoed

What? You don't have achiote at home?

I have it since my wife is half mexican.

I did pork 36h 60C not too long ago, finished in the deep fryer, you can always serve less?

It is so damned good that it is worth the rich stuff though..

tuckatodd

@johan I was gonna mention the same idea about sliders!! That is what I usually make with leftover belly!! So tasty!!

seijoed

Last time I had almost a full bar left (I thought) - it was gone the next morning!

Rory_22257

OK, I'm narrowing in on pork belly sliders/buns.

Now if I could get a little help with the specifics that would be gang-busters!

For the Pork Belly:

- I've watched the chef steps vid on brining but there was not mention of curing salts. When should / shouldn't you use curing salts? can I use them in this application? if so what are some guidelines?

- Time and temp for belly?

- Finishing: Deepfry or Weber grill with a massive pile of coals? Any glaze before of after finishing off?

And I think I'll serve it with buns (obviously if they are sliders), slaw, and some pickled cucumbers I'll make this weekend.

Thanks for your help guys.

seijoed

You don't need to cure it, you are not making bacon.

Blanching it off in hot water takes away any possibility of bacteria, then

I really like the 36h 60C - Deepfried gives you a chicharron flavor that I really like, pan seared, grilled, you name it would be great, no glaze needed in my opinion.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

@Rory the last pork belly I did was like the one on Chefsteps, a pink brine then in the bag at 60C for 36 hrs. Out of the bag I crisp the skin and render some of the fat out. Sliced ~10mm thick I shingle the slices on a frisee/grilled corn salad and a 62.5C egg on top.

Rory_22257

Sounds good! Thanks for the input guys...

However this is what confuses me about curing salts!:

On the one hand ... It is 'traditional' or common for people to suggest that curing salts are for making bacon / panchetta / traditional cured meats etc...

But on the other hand I am starting to see recipes that use curing salts for dishes that are served immediately such as the Chef Steps braised pork belly

What I want to know is why would you use curing salts for these immediate serve recipes? does it change the flavor? or is it just to retain the pink color?

Chris_Young_80640

@Rory — Nitrite salts (Instacure No. 1 and similar) do enhance the flavor of the meat. The flavor chemistry is not entirely understood, but in several studies pork taste more, well, pork-like as the curing salt is cranked up.

But you don't want to overdo it, you really want all of the nitrite salt to fully react with the meat if you're going to fry the meat. At high temperatures, unreacted nitrite salts can form nitrosamines, which are suspected carcinogens.

Hence, you'll see that the nitrite level used in our sous vide pork belly is actually a very small dosage that adheres to the FDA guidelines.

Brendan_Lee_56950

@chris any truth to the idea that if you eat nitrite rich foods (i.e. bacon) with calcium rich foods you neutralize most of the harmful nitrosamines?

seijoed

@Rory all this talking about bellies I had to break one out of the freezer

Blanched 4 minutes in rolling boil, bagged and now sitting in 62C.

Chris_Young_80640

@Brendan I haven't heard that claim. Any source for it? I have a friend who is a retired professor who is an expert on the chemistry of nitrosamines formation, I'll ask him about it.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Here's the article abstract. I can't recall where I read the original reference to it but this is what they were referring to.

http://carcin.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/2/397.abstract

Brendan_Lee_56950

I also just realized that I had said calcium in my earlier post and I meant Vitamin C

Chris_Young_80640

Ah, this makes some sense now. In commercial practice, sodium erythorbate is often added together with nitrite salts. The erythorbate helps to ensure that all of the nitrite is reacted in the meat during the curing step, so that no free nitrites are left that could be turned into nitrosamines during a high-temperature cooking step (think frying bacon).

Erythorbate is the mirror image of vitamin C, and it seems that vitamin C has some ability to do the same thing, although it is far less effective than it's right-handed twin image.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_erythorbate

seijoed

Just felt like adding the beauty of skinned and seared pork belly

24h give or take 8 or so at 62.5C, pressed overnight, then skin removed

and pan seared.

Grace_95227

erhmagerd @johan - you post dangerous pictures!

Brendan_Lee_56950

How bout some 72 hour miso-maple pork jowl.

I served it with oven roasted sunchokes dressed with olive oil, S&P, and some sweet curry powder. The salad is home grown micro greens (mix of broccoli, kholrabi, radish, cabbage), slivered green onion, and jalepeno slices dressed with sesame oil and sweet soy. Topped it all off with a touch of truffle salt.

Jack_Mayer_85396

OMG @Brendan - that looks soooo good! Is the jowl from your guanciale efforts?

Brendan_Lee_56950

It's the other half of that jowl order. I got 4 total. 2 are down for guanciale, two were cured with a maple-misoyaki cure and these are those. The other's are still hanging, should be done in the next week or so.

Jack_Mayer_85396

I'm very envious! And my stomach is growling ...

Brendan_Lee_56950

My wife hates the fact that we have to share a bathroom because the only room in our house suitable for dry curing ironically is our spare bathroom so it is not outta commish until the meats are cured!

Grace_95227

@Brendan, you better get her lots of flowers and chocolates for that. Doubt many wives are so understanding

seijoed

It works well with bacon too.

Brandon__67713

It's the other half of that jowl order. I got 4 total. 2 are down for guanciale, two were cured with a maple-misoyaki cure and these are those. The other's are still hanging, should be done in the next week or so.

What is the recipe for the cure you used? TY

Brendan_Lee_56950

Here's the cure. Plug in the appropriate weights and it will give you the amounts you need.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4EYdSEr-kKuZm44amJ5dEtDU28/edit?usp=sharing

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Brendan - I pullled the page up and its blank. Just the title in the upper left, "Guanciale cure.xlsx"

seijoed

Loads fine here. In Chrome on OSX. - Can't edit it though.

Needed to right click and open in Google Sheets. - Working.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Lets see if it will let me attach the file.