Pork belly sous vide

When i look in ny library, for pork belly sous vide, i see a lot of different cooking times, and degrees. What are your guys favorite temperature + time.
On this delicious piece of Meat ???

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Samuel_68313

Yeah, I am curious on this as well. I'd also be interested in making some pork rillettes using roasted pork fat and pork belly, but I am not really sure the best technique.

Matt_H_63094

I've tried a many, many times with temperatures in the low 60's from 36 to 72 hours and everything in between. Results have generally been good, but not extraordinary.

Recently I gave 82'c for 18 hours a go... and it was extraordinary. Absolutely amazing in fact. I'd given the belly 3 hours in the smoker before hand which definitely helped. I did struggle to keep the thing in one piece when it came out of the bath, so maybe the full 18 isn't necessary... but man was it delicious!!

Chris_Young_80640

What did you like about the texture of 82 °C for 18 hrs? I don't think I've ever tried pork belly done that way. Very cool how much personal preference varies, and how easy sous vide makes it to actually discuss these different preferences (IMO).

Samuel_68313

Wow, 82 °C seems really high instinctively. I assumed something like 48h at 60 would have been the way to go. Isn't the meat pretty mushy after 18h at that temperature?

I think I'll try it next week though as my machine is going to be at that temperature for a few days anyway for something else I am doing. I'll post results.

Gorm_Veggerby__40759

Just finished the cooking process this friday, on my take on the pork belly, i trimmed the bones and fat away,

And brined the pork for 24 hours, then i rinsed the belly in several changes of cold water, and made cross cuts. In the skin. After that i packed Them in the chamber sealer. And cooked the belly for 16 hours at 69 celsius. After cooking the belly i blast chilled it, until it was completely cold. Put it in Big plastic containers ( cambro) in very even layers. I stacked the containers with pork, and added 4 cases of beer on top to compress the Meat. Next morning i had perfectly flat pork belly. I gave the pork 7 min on 250 celsius and it was very good. At least the majority of the 300 People that we served it for, gave their compliments. The first bags in the cooker that dont look that Nice are trimmings, we waste nothing

Samuel_68313

So I tried cooking a 500g piece of belly pork for 18 hours at 82 the way @matt suggested and was surprised how well the texture of the meat came out. I expected it to be a bit mushy but it was actually great.

I don't think you can make the meat look good though, it was ugly when it came out and even with a very sharp knife it was impossible to portion well. Ultimately I decided to shred the meat, I discarded some of the excess fat, then added back some of the cooking juices, thyme, sage, salt, white pepper, onion powder, and roasted pork fat to make pork rillettes, as I mentioned earlier.

Matt_H_63094

It kind of goes against all conventional wisdom, and I had actually never intended to leave it in the bath for that long... work got in the way and I didn't get a chance to remove it when I meant to.

It's too wobbly to do much with when warm... I realised this when I broke a chunk off just getting it out of the bath. I chilled and compressed it then it was nice and easy to slice and portion up. Sealed in individual bags, reheated to 56c then blow torched.

I'm going to see what happens with a shoulder at this temp just out of curiosity. I have a feeling that the belly's epic fat content is what keeps it from drying out, whereas a shoulder might struggle. Only one way to find out

Grace_95227

Can't wait to hear your results @Matt H! I've tried pork belly a few times, but still haven't got pork shoulder right

Matt_H_63094

Disappointingly! It was just far too long for the shoulder. It fell to bits like a wet cake.. Decent pork flavour, but the meat strands were too chewy and getting pretty dry. However I think it's definitely worth further experimentation.. Maybe something more like 8 to 12 hours at this temp would do the trick. Currently I'm doing it at 62c for 48 hours for pulled pork with excellent results every time, but it's not very practical; a quicker solution would be great!

Brendan_Lee_56950

I have done shoulder at 67C for 24h with good results.

pepin.martinez

I just did bone in skin on belly at 75c for 24 hours. Good but a little delicate. I had to be pretty careful browning it in a pan afterwards.

Grace_95227

@Matt_H @Brendan @Pepin - I've been doing mine for 70C for 24 hours, nearest to @Brendan's! It's pretty good and not that long.

Gorm_Veggerby__40759

Try the 69 c for 16 hours, the Meat is very tender, but still holds its shape

pgcath

My wife and I did the braised pork belly from ChefSteps.

Bacon is for fools that have not discovered this...

Just sayin'.