Go to the Recipe: Fat Duck–Inspired Ultimate Pork Belly
We can point you in a direction. It looks like black lentils or maybe even black beans, Pomegranate arils, Whole leaf parsley or chervil, some sort of onion either roasted or sweated. Other than that keeping it simple would be to dress it with fresh lemon juice and olive oil and then season to taste. You might also want to add a little kick of some jalapeño or Serrano pepper and if that doesn't do it for you a splash of apple cider vinegar. Chives would be nice too.
can you supply the recipe for that lentil salad underneath the belly? looks awesome.
As I write this I have my porchetta assembled, seasoned and drying in the frig til Monday. I've made several over the years and was told by a butcher in Phillies Little Italy to make sure that after I took the belly our of the plastic wrap wash it thoroughly for several minutes in cold water to get all the slimness off of it. AND he said, if I froze it, make sure to slow thaw in the refrigerator still in the wrap and then wash it thoroughly.
Do I have to Brine pork belly? or brine with only salt?
I've got to agree with some of the more critical comments. Far from being the "ultimate pork belly", this is a very simple recipe for what is called "green bacon", which is then cooked sous vide. There is nothing "ultimate" about this in any way, it is literally the most basic way to make bacon imaginable.
"Green bacon" is bacon consumed straight out of the cure, without further processing, drying, smoking, etc. There would have been ample opportunity to dial up the flavour, from adding herbs to the brining stage to a coating while finishing in a hot pan.
Not try this yet but very into it. However, I got a concern which is that after bringing out from the fridge, how can I make sure inside will be warm enough after searing the belly surface? I believe we definitely not want to over-cook inside in the last step. Thanks very much.
just leave it overnight uncovered in the fridge after u pat it dry, it should turn out pretty dry after that and then just shallow fry it in a wok while basting it continuously at 200C and finishing it in 150C oven just to warm up the interior, with lower amount of oil, it shouldn't make so much mess
Having fun with the steamed buns, and did this brine for 96 hours. The belly came out more salty than I like, could I cut the salt and instacure in half?
What do I use , I don't have a souvide equiptment?
I don't have a souvide equiptment
Hi Chris, yes! You could just take our Smokerless Smoked Brisket recipe and adapt!
Hi Scott! Nick recommends smoking it at 149 °F / 65 °C for 2-4 hours. He likes applewood personally and mentioned that this is just one of the many ways to smoke it that he uses regularly.
I know this is subjective to the end user, but what is the recommended smoke type. temp and time?
How about some liquid smoke in the brine and skip the smoking. I have read comments for and against
I see you (chef steps) have used liquid smoke with the brisket in the sous vide I'm not sure if that would work with the pork belly Anyone out there tried it
David, about 25 years ago, one of the best wild-game chefs that I know taught me a trick that describes what you are talking about. He always did 1 of 2 things with wild game that he swore removed the gamey, strong taste that you are referring to. The first technique is to soak the meat overnight in milk; don't ask me the science behind it, but it works. I do venison backstrap this way, after slicing it into 1 1/2" cuts, then pound them flat, bread them and fry them like chicken-fried steak. Simply amazing, and no gamey flavor at all. People that don't "like" venison have tried it and love it. The second technique, which I use on larger cuts, is to brine the meat in a product called Morton's Tender Quick for 1-2 days. Again, no gamey flavor. I have used both techniques on many varieties of game with successful results. So in conclusion, I suspect that your off flavor did indeed come from the lack of brining. I can't speak as to whether the dry curing technique you describe will work or not; I suspect that the key is to pulling to blood from the meat, which both techniques I described accomplish (the milk turns quite pink, as does the Tender Quick solution), and dry curing should do the same.
Is it normal for a heap of liquid to leave the pork belly during the cooking process? The pork has been cooking for 2 hours and there is a lot of liquid in the bag. I'm using the water displacement method with zip lock bags.
Will this not poach the belly? Thanks
Could you please provide your lentil salad recipe? Thank you!
You can buy it from your butcher with or without skin, just ask them to remove it if you don't want it.
Does the pork belly comes with the skin?
Careful with the sodium nitrite (instacure) if using in a highly acidic (vinegar) brine. It can cause the salts to rapidly decompose into nitric oxide - unsafe as a concentrated gas.
Could you add liquid smoke to the brine and save the actual smoking step? If so, how much?
Thanks Ellen. The off-taste came from the sous vide belly that was not brined. It was kind of a gamey (stronger pork but not pleasant) taste I've only gotten when I sous vide pork without brining it first. When I brine pork before sous vide, it tastes good. Have you ever experienced this too? This is the recipe I'm preparing - http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/12/the-food-lab-deep-fried-sous-vide-36-hour-all-belly-porchetta.html. It says to salt, etc. and place in fridge for at least overnight but up to three days. Maybe this accomplishes the brining effect and I won't get the off-taste I've described. I'm thinking about adding pink salt too. Your thoughts? Thanks again.
Hi Chris, no! You could absolutely do that!
Hi David, without knowing exactly what the off-taste is, it's hard for us to say whether this was due to the brine or another factor. Sorry we're able to be of more help!
I've made this recipe and it turned out to be amazing. My friend prepared the belly sous vide without the brine and it had an off taste that was undesirable to me. Could the brine be the reason it didn't have the off taste? I plan to sous vide a loin wrapped in belly porchetta and was wondering if I should brine the belly first. I am going to sous vide the porchetta for 36 hours at 155F. I don't want the off taste I experienced before without the brine but I'm concerned the brine will tighten the belly and make it difficult to wrap around the loin. Any insight would be appreciated.
TCM, Prague #1 and Insta Cure No. 1 are interchangeable. I've used all with success.
The recipes here that are often labelled bland I found pretty much are always made tasty simply by seasoning with sufficient salt after cooking
Hi Chris, I had the same question. Did you find out how this works? Cheers.
I'm so glad you asked, because I was thinking about posting something. Basically, unless you're looking to cause a major grease fire in your kitchen, you can simply go from sousvide to fry. Water & Hot Oil don't mix. I even try to pat down the delicate fat with paper towels, still almost cause the kitchen to blow up. Therefore, I'm sticking with the oven roast to fry as featured in Cooks Illustrated to get the multi texture. Of course, as always, open to thoughts from others on this.
Did you try sous vide vs. oven roasting yet? I'm currently vacillating between the two recipes for the pork belly I'll be cooking next week. I'm mainly interested to know if there was a difference in the quality of the crackling.
Any reason you couldn't freeze the pork belly after the SV cook and then defrost and sear as needed?
Just finished this recipe tonight and loved how simple and easy everything was. It'll be a great go-to when I have an extra hunk of belly or just want to conquer a craving.
Rock salt
Maybe the brine will have a reaction with the plastic bag? Try it and let us know.
Why not make a smaller amount of brine and seal the belly in a bag of brine? Or make a dry cure vs. the brine, like you would when curing for bacon?
I think the comments were spot on. To the poster that disagreed - re-read the post. which seems an objective, reasoned comment based on the poster's experience. I am likewise a long time home cook who worked through school in what Craig Claiborne called at the time, one of the best French restaurants in America. Doesn't mean much except I know enough to know what I like and don't like. While I thoroughly enjoy the ChefSteps classes and recipes, more than once I have felt that the flavor bang falls a bit short of the eye candy, so to speak. And I agree, this seems to be a byproduct of certain interpretations of modernist cuisine. .However, everyone's sense of taste is different and what different people look for in food covers a wide spectrum (and thank goodness for that) so no one is wrong here. I too, however, would like to taste a little more pizazz in some of the creations.
I recently had massive success roasting Pork Belly according to the Cook's Illustrated recipe. You slice the fat cap like in the photo below. After dry brining overnight in the fridge, into the oven at 250 for 3 1/2 hours (internal temp 195 F); the magic happens after you take it out of the oven -- crisp up the skin in the pan with about a cup of oli/pork fat. The crispy skin paired with the melting fat and delicious meat is unreal. I'm thinking that instead of the oven part, cook the Pork Belly souls vide, then finish off crisping the top layer of fat. Will let you know how that turns out.
On a side note, I suggest everyone Pressure Cooks come fresh cherry tomatoes for an hour and make an insane BBQ scratch sauce to match (pic below).
Is tinted curing mix interchangeable with Insta Cure No. 1?
I don't really think this post should be dignified with a response, but boy are you on about nothing. This recipe is clearly an entry level approach to sous vide so as not to scare off people who are new to it. If you were such a master culinarian, you could pretty much read the recipe and know that there is not too much depth to the recipe. There is literally zero connection with this fact and your perception of modernist cooking lacking oomph.
Sous vide equals precision, replication, and convenience. Nothing implied that it equals flavor. It all depends on what you do with the end product. I think Ruhlman would agree. So keep buying your bacon from your butcher, some of us like to do it at home.
I completed this recipe over the weekend, and achieved results as ChefSteps intended (see pic below ), HOWEVER....
BORING!
What this recipe created seems to be very nice, tasty, fatty bacon. But that end result can also be achieved in 20 minutes by going to your nearest butcher and buying this nice fatty bacon. I am now trying methods of rendering more fat and adding more flavor than this low temp method allows. 16hrs @ 70°C will not render much fat. BEGIN RANT: This lack of flavor seems to be an ongoing problem with Modernist cookbooks and web sites. The belief that method alone will yield sufficiently awesome results is a little misplaced. A friend owns the giant 'Modernist Cuisine' book, and his greatest complaint is that he has to amp up almost every recipe. My wife and I, and a revolving coterie of friends, have been serious home cooks for over 20 years (20 course showoff dinners at home), and restaurant groupies too, having searched for and eaten at many of the most innovative restaurants all over the world. (I realize that sounds snotty, and I apologize) The point is that while Modernist cuisine has advanced American food culture in fantastic ways, it needs to get over itself on the flavor front. Take a look at how much flavor is involved in making of the Pork Belly Confit in the "Charcuterie" book by Michael Rulhman. A friend recently made a combination of that recipe and the one by Gordon Ramsey. The results were stunning on both texture and flavor. Many of the comments I read on this site seem to touch on ways to add flavor to the recipes as presented, so Chris, Grant, Ryan, help us out here! END RANT. On the positive side, the methods are pretty spot on. The Egg Calculator and Time and Temp Guide are fantastic aids (even if, inexplicably, many recipes do not follow them). I have made many other ChefSteps recipes successfully and altered them as necessary to great acclaim by friends and spouses.
Took me ages to find but, If you're in the uk: http://www.smokedust.co.uk/
Prague Powder #1
What if I can't get insta cure #1?
My first attempt with the MCAH lentil salad. Plating leaves something to be desired but the dish was awesome.
Can anyone advice if there is a bad effect on the pork if I put vinegar in the bag?
I would like to try a recipe and it calls for vinegar.
I usually just rinse it of with hot water at about 50C, which is the hottest my tap gets. If you want to reserve the liquid just warm the bag. As long as you stay below the temp you cooked it at, you shouldn't have any problems.
thank you for this tomorrow i will try this recipe in my work place^^
i was think about new menu and i am sure it will be perfec for me~~
i will let you know about my resurt~~^^
I'm,very low spikes English
Very beautiful
I have just completed this. I only had time to brine for 48 hours but the resulting texture and taste was fantastic.
One issue I have is with the gelatinous liquid that is expelled during the cooking process. I have found that when chilling and pressing, the liquid forms a very solid jelly like coating that is hard to remove. I trimmed the majority of it off but when searing, the remaining gelatine that was still stuck on the skin, inhibited the browning process and created a deep brown sticky fond. Has anyone else had an issue with this? How do you remove the liquid from the skin before searing it? Any suggestions would be appreciated
Wen I said I cook I meant sous vide at 63.5
For 24hrs or wen needed urgent 82deg for 12 hrs I find it much better wen cooked on the bone it's tastier and it works like a coating so it's very tender !
But will def try ur recipe brine it for 96hrs . Cheers love ur recipes and always watchin u on u tube well done guys!
I brine my pork for 48 hrs but I cook it whole with ribs and rind the result is astonishing also out of the ribs I make a ragout divine the only thing it comes salty coz of the brine but I add brwn sugar and it's perfect .. Sweet salty and a dash of wht wine vinegar guarantee hit all the notes:))
How can I adjust this recipe given that I do not currently have any Insta Cure No. 1?
