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Perfect pork belly

lelferreira

Christmas is coming up and I've been thinking on doing a pork belly for dinner at home. What's the best way to cook it sous vide? What do you put in the brine? And last but not least, how do I get a nice crackling as well?

Thanks!

Duda

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Comments

Brendan_Lee_56950

I look forward to the equilibrium brining info, i field questions about brining all the time and would love to be better versed in this technique so people can't play the blame game when their food is too salty.

lelferreira

Equilibrium is way safer than gradient. Iactually left for 58 hrs by mistake. Simply forgot about it. hehehe...

If it was an equilibrium brine, I wouldn't have that problem...

Chris_Young_80640

We'll be talking about equilibrium brines in the course next week. This will be a good example to talk about why you'll want to use them. Thanks for sharing the details and the photos.

lelferreira

Indeed it was. The one in picture I left for 58 hours. It was bit salty, but nothing expressive.

About the brining, I did a gradient brine, instead of an equilibrium (don't know why actually). That's why this one became little salty.

Chris_Young_80640

Looks great. Can you tell us about your brining procedure? To me it looks like it's a bit over-salted, but I'm sure it's delicious.

seijoed

That looks great!

lelferreira

Thanks everyone for the help!

Seems like everyone have a different opinio when it comes to temperature and time.

I got some pictures, but unfortunately I don't have the final result.

Brined for 48 hrs in curing brine / 24 hrs rest in the fridge / 60C for 40 hours.

It came out perfect! Finished in the fryer.

seijoed

@neogenix Cool! Last time I made it I had 4 belly cuts which I thought was about 2 times too much, I could have used double that

Patrick_Ancillotti_6135

For all interested, mine turned out to be a hit at the xmas party, and most folks ended up eating more of the pork than the prime rib that was there.... Pork 1, Beef 0!

Grace_95227

@Duda: I had the same problem hence did a little experiment. Was making the same dish as BeeLee (momofuku pork bun style).

I tried 71C for 24 hours without brining, chilled and weighed it down overnight (skin side down). Then I divided the pork into two large portions to test:

a) first, was just skin side down on a hot pan, which unfortunately got stuck and destroy the nice flat surface of crackling I had - noob. Perhaps I should have added some oil, but it would have sizzled as I couldn't dry the cold pork's skin properly. By the time I cut them they were too soft and turn into shredded pork belly instead. Crackling failed too.

b) second, I portioned the meat cold (works wonders), and then place them, wrapped in foil on the sides -just with skin exposed to direct heat - in the oven at 220C for 20 min. Worked much better, I had great brown crackling, and the meat retained its moistness. I suppose one could do this in the pan skin side down with individual cut portions but putting it in the oven seems easier.

Hope this helps!

Patrick_Ancillotti_6135

@chris: Ah, I wonder why he used a higher temp (in the url above), perhaps to have more squishy bits at the end? Never mind on the time, I just realized you said for a few seconds

Chris_Young_80640

I like 140F / 60C for 48 hrs or 148F /65C for 24 hrs.

Patrick_Ancillotti_6135

@chris : Would you still do so at 155 F / 68.3 C ?

I'm in the process of doing this for xmas as a side dish to go with the 20lb prime rib roast that's underway by other members of the crew : http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/12/the-food-lab-deep-fried-sous-vide-36-hour-all-belly-porchetta.html

Chris_Young_80640

Duda:

I generally like to briefly blanch the skin before cooking pork belly—especially if I'm going to cook it at 140 °F / 60 °C. The reason is that the skin tends to be heavily loaded with bacteria, some of which can create an off-flavor during the first few minutes of cooking that will persist. Blanching the belly for a couple seconds kills these bacteria so that you don't have that risk. The skin and fat themselves are fine.

Chris

Brendan_Lee_56950

I did a fat and skin on pork belly this weekend with good results. I did 30hr @ 71 and then a sear in the pan for some pork belly mantou buns.

lelferreira

@chris: I've got a pork belly and a loin of pork here with the skin on. Do you think that if I cook them sous vide, the fat and the skin will transfer an off taste to the meat? Thanks! Duda

seijoed

Pork belly at 62.5C 24h and finished in the fryer is epically good....

dpietranczyk_49940

If you have a small fryer, I recommend portioning it and frying it at 350F. That way the entire outside crisps nicely and you don't have to worry about keeping an eye on searing all the sides while you have a million other things to worry about.

trev_teich

If you want it to be crispy you will sear it fat side down if you have taken the skin of before you start the process. In addition you can use the pork skin to make a crackling.

lelferreira

I was thinking on cooking it sous vide leaving the skin on and in e last minute, ladle over very hot oil to get the crackling. Still work right? I was only afraid that the skin may transfer some off flavor during the cooking process....

lelferreira

So even if take the skin out, I'd still got the crackling I want just from the fat?

trev_teich

Get a pan with oil hot and sear fat side down until crisp. Make sure you drain the pork belly on a drop cloth before or it won't crisp up nicely. Or you can use some of the trimmed fat from from breaking down the belly and make chicharones.

lelferreira

What about the crackling?

trev_teich

Brine in curing brine for 48hrs, rinse, sous vide at 60C for 36 hrs.