Posted: 9/11/2015 7:56:25 AM EDT
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Just bought my first ever pork belly yesterday from Costco. I'd priced them out from local butchers before, and was always on the fence, but at $22 for just shy of 8 lbs, I was in!
I'm looking for some good recipes, and not just bacon. I'll be making this one for sure, and serving it on bao: http://luckypeach.com/recipes/momofuku-pork-belly/ But I'm also wondering what you folks have done. I have four 2 lb chunks after breaking this thing down, so I need 3 solid ideas. Lardons, tacos, what do you guys do with pork belly? |
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I've only made bacon, but I'm going to try this the next time I buy a belly. The bacon came out fantastic, BTW. http://thewoksoflife.com/2014/04/shanghai-style-braised-pork-belly/ There seems to be a lot of Chinese recipes for pork belly. |
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Quoted:
I've only made bacon, but I'm going to try this the next time I buy a belly. The bacon came out fantastic, BTW. http://thewoksoflife.com/2014/04/shanghai-style-braised-pork-belly/ There seems to be a lot of Chinese recipes for pork belly. Chinese roasted pork belly is amazing. Pork belly curry. Pork belly soup. For something cajun I'll rub andouille on it and let it sit for 24 hours, before I slow roast it. One time I had a apple beer from a buddys place, poured that over the meat let it roast and cook down. Lots of stuff you can do. |
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I saw some at Costco in July and snatched one up. Do this... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-NiZR5CKDkiU/VfLMal4VEuI/AAAAAAAAgIY/KNwkij9nFBo/s640-Ic42/20150720_183038.jpg then this... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MB8MMqwb90A/VfLMLuc4ZKI/AAAAAAAAgIQ/noh_XC7hQPY/s640-Ic42/20150726_153228.jpg then this... https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6ZDD6GE-FIQ/VfLMr_Nj0KI/AAAAAAAAgIg/ECjM1cMRiSE/s640-Ic42/IMGP0419.JPG Sorry, no pics of the cooked bacon. It was too good to stop for pictures. Marinade? Smoke time and temp? |
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I cold smoked mine. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1786027_A_new_home_made_bacon_thread__Pics_added_.html |
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Filipino food has a lot of interesting ideas for pork belly.
http://www.pinoycookingrecipes.com/lechon-kawali.html You can also use it to make adobo, there are tons of recipes, here's one. http://www.pinoycookingrecipes.com/pork-adobo.html To see my take on adobo, go here: linky |
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http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/pork-braised-coconut-juice-eggs-thit-heo-kho
We make thit Kho with pork belly, usually with eggs. I usually boil the pork first, that way all the gunk gets out of the meat. Then drain, and simmer in the ingredients. And instead of using coconut juice, there's a beverage called CoCo Rico that I use and take out the sugar. I also make a thit xa xiu, which is the asian BBQ pork that you would probably want to put in your banh bao. I start off with NOH brand chinese BBQ seasoning, and soy sauce/seasoning sauce. I marinate it over night, then put it in the rotisserie with either corn syrup or honey brushed on once it's cooked to give it a nice glaze/crispness at the end. |
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Quoted:
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/pork-braised-coconut-juice-eggs-thit-heo-kho We make thit Kho with pork belly, usually with eggs. I usually boil the pork first, that way all the gunk gets out of the meat. Then drain, and simmer in the ingredients. And instead of using coconut juice, there's a beverage called CoCo Rico that I use and take out the sugar. I also make a thit xa xiu, which is the asian BBQ pork that you would probably want to put in your banh bao. I start off with NOH brand chinese BBQ seasoning, and soy sauce/seasoning sauce. I marinate it over night, then put it in the rotisserie with either corn syrup or honey brushed on once it's cooked to give it a nice glaze/crispness at the end. This sounds amazing! |
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Also bought pork belly at Costco this past weekend with a plan to make my own bacon. It's the first time I have ever seen it there. They sell it with the skin already removed. I cut mine into two ~4.5 lbs. pieces for curing. One is being cured using a store-bought maple sugar cure ("The Original Bacon Kit") that I received as a gift, the other is being cured with a two parts Kosher salt, one part brown sugar cure mix, with some ground peppercorns and a touch of pink curing salt (Prague Powder No. 1) thrown in. Today is Day 3. I plan on taking the maple sugar cured piece out on Day 7, and the Kosher salt/brown sugar/pepper cured chunk out after 10 days. Then I plan on cold smoking both in my Weber Bullet (WSM Smoker) with a 2 parts Hickory/1 part Applewood mix using an A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker from 1 to 3 days (if I have the time and patience to keep them cold smoking for that long). I'll probably take one out after a full day of smoking, and the Kosher salt/brown sugar cured piece after three days (hopefully). My (lofty) goal with the Kosher salt/brown sugar cured piece to is to end up with something approximating Benton's bacon. We'll see... Thrilled that Costco is selling the packer pork bellies, though. |
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Quoted:
Also bought pork belly at Costco this past weekend with a plan to make my own bacon. It's the first time I have ever seen it there. They sell it with the skin already removed. I cut mine into two ~4.5 lbs. pieces for curing. One is being cured using a store-bought maple sugar cure ("The Original Bacon Kit") that I received as a gift, the other is being cured with a two parts Kosher salt, one part brown sugar cure mix, with some ground peppercorns and a touch of pink curing salt (Prague Powder No. 1) thrown in. Today is Day 3. I plan on taking the maple sugar cured piece out on Day 7, and the Kosher salt/brown sugar/pepper cured chunk out after 10 days. Then I plan on cold smoking both in my Weber Bullet (WSM Smoker) with a 2 parts Hickory/1 part Applewood mix using an A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker from 1 to 3 days (if I have the time and patience to keep them cold smoking for that long). I'll probably take one out after a full day of smoking, and the Kosher salt/brown sugar cured piece after three days (hopefully). My (lofty) goal with the Kosher salt/brown sugar cured piece to is to end up with something approximating Benton's bacon. We'll see... Thrilled that Costco is selling the packer pork bellies, though. I love this plan. Pics when done, please! |
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Quoted: I love this plan. Pics when done, please! Quoted: Quoted: Also bought pork belly at Costco this past weekend with a plan to make my own bacon. It's the first time I have ever seen it there. They sell it with the skin already removed. I cut mine into two ~4.5 lbs. pieces for curing. One is being cured using a store-bought maple sugar cure ("The Original Bacon Kit") that I received as a gift, the other is being cured with a two parts Kosher salt, one part brown sugar cure mix, with some ground peppercorns and a touch of pink curing salt (Prague Powder No. 1) thrown in. Today is Day 3. I plan on taking the maple sugar cured piece out on Day 7, and the Kosher salt/brown sugar/pepper cured chunk out after 10 days. Then I plan on cold smoking both in my Weber Bullet (WSM Smoker) with a 2 parts Hickory/1 part Applewood mix using an A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker from 1 to 3 days (if I have the time and patience to keep them cold smoking for that long). I'll probably take one out after a full day of smoking, and the Kosher salt/brown sugar cured piece after three days (hopefully). My (lofty) goal with the Kosher salt/brown sugar cured piece to is to end up with something approximating Benton's bacon. We'll see... Thrilled that Costco is selling the packer pork bellies, though. I love this plan. Pics when done, please! This morning, I prepped my smaller (14-inch) Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) Cooker ("Weber Bullet") for cold smoking. That meant leaving the water pan empty, and for "cold" smoke using the A-MAZE-N 5x8 Pellet Smoker (filled with 1 lbs. of an 80/20 Hickory/Applewood pellet mix) placed on the coal grate (this fit perfectly within the 14-in WSM's coal ring). I placed the now cured and dried belly on the top rack (see below) and covered.  The WSM was set up with all vents (top and bottom) wide open. Within an hour, the temp went over 110-deg in the WSM, so I closed the bottom vents to approximately 40% open. That seemed to do the trick and the internal temp within the WSM went down to and remained around 90-degrees. I flipped the belly/bacon over every 3 hours. Here's what the finished product looked like when I removed the WSM lid at the 12-hr end point (the A-MAZE-N pellet smoker also seemed to have exhausted its fuel at approximately the same point):  And here is what it looked like after I made the first of a few slices I took off for "testing", and before cooling in the fridge overnight for slicing tomorrow:  Not pictured? Those slices I fried up in my cast iron and "tested" (I just didn't have the patience to wait to take a pic!). Nonetheless, the bacon came out fantastic. Far better than anything that you'd buy in a store! If you have the time and the will, I would strongly recommend checking out to see if your local Costco now has pork belly. Curing, smoking, cooking, and eating the bacon was very easy. The biggest challenge is simply having the time and being diligent enough to overhaul the belly and cure once a day. No matter, it's worth trying. |
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Quoted:
Here's the first of the two belly pieces I've been curing. It's the one cured with "The Original Bacon Kit" (maple sugar/Kosher salt cure). Yesterday was Day 7 of the cure, so I removed it from the cure, rinsed it, let it sit in a tub of ice cold water for approximately 2 hours, then let sit on a rack in my fridge for approximately 12 hours so it had time to develop a pellicle. This morning, I prepped my smaller (14-inch) Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) Cooker ("Weber Bullet") for cold smoking. That meant leaving the water pan empty, and for "cold" smoke using the A-MAZE-N 5x8 Pellet Smoker (filled with 1 lbs. of an 80/20 Hickory/Applewood pellet mix) placed on the coal grate (this fit perfectly within the 14-in WSM's coal ring). I placed the now cured and dried belly on the top rack (see below) and covered. http://cl3c0.pogoplug.com/svc/files/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/VXcEc9enAC6k6aJSObLLXg/20150916_095901%20-%20Pork%20Belly%20-%20Maple%20Sugar%20Cure%20-%20Pre-Smoking%20-%20RZ.jpg The WSM was set up with all vents (top and bottom) wide open. Within an hour, the temp went over 110-deg in the WSM, so I closed the bottom vents to approximately 40% open. That seemed to do the trick and the internal temp within the WSM went down to and remained around 90-degrees. I flipped the belly/bacon over every 3 hours. Here's what the finished product looked like when I removed the WSM lid at the 12-hr end point (the A-MAZE-N pellet smoker also seemed to have exhausted its fuel at approximately the same point): http://cl3c0.pogoplug.com/svc/files/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/qgs8wS4TEvx9W3S5vpz5aA/20150916_215843%20-%20Bacon%20-%20Smoking%20Finished%20-%20RZ.jpg And here is what it looked like after I made the first of a few slices I took off for "testing", and before cooling in the fridge overnight for slicing tomorrow: http://cl3c0.pogoplug.com/svc/files/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/47COcoWArJ6YlA_8jFFUoQ/20150916_220548%20-%20Bacon%20-%20Maple%20Sugar%20Cure%20-%2012%20Hours%20Cold%20Smoke%20-%20RZ.jpg Not pictured? Those slices I fried up in my cast iron and "tested" (I just didn't have the patience to wait to take a pic!). Nonetheless, the bacon came out fantastic. Far better than anything that you'd buy in a store! If you have the time and the will, I would strongly recommend checking out to see if your local Costco now has pork belly. Curing, smoking, cooking, and eating the bacon was very easy. The biggest challenge is simply having the time and being diligent enough to overhaul the belly and cure once a day. No matter, it's worth trying. Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Also bought pork belly at Costco this past weekend with a plan to make my own bacon. It's the first time I have ever seen it there. They sell it with the skin already removed. I cut mine into two ~4.5 lbs. pieces for curing. One is being cured using a store-bought maple sugar cure ("The Original Bacon Kit") that I received as a gift, the other is being cured with a two parts Kosher salt, one part brown sugar cure mix, with some ground peppercorns and a touch of pink curing salt (Prague Powder No. 1) thrown in. Today is Day 3. I plan on taking the maple sugar cured piece out on Day 7, and the Kosher salt/brown sugar/pepper cured chunk out after 10 days. Then I plan on cold smoking both in my Weber Bullet (WSM Smoker) with a 2 parts Hickory/1 part Applewood mix using an A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker from 1 to 3 days (if I have the time and patience to keep them cold smoking for that long). I'll probably take one out after a full day of smoking, and the Kosher salt/brown sugar cured piece after three days (hopefully). My (lofty) goal with the Kosher salt/brown sugar cured piece to is to end up with something approximating Benton's bacon. We'll see... Thrilled that Costco is selling the packer pork bellies, though. I love this plan. Pics when done, please! This morning, I prepped my smaller (14-inch) Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) Cooker ("Weber Bullet") for cold smoking. That meant leaving the water pan empty, and for "cold" smoke using the A-MAZE-N 5x8 Pellet Smoker (filled with 1 lbs. of an 80/20 Hickory/Applewood pellet mix) placed on the coal grate (this fit perfectly within the 14-in WSM's coal ring). I placed the now cured and dried belly on the top rack (see below) and covered. http://cl3c0.pogoplug.com/svc/files/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/VXcEc9enAC6k6aJSObLLXg/20150916_095901%20-%20Pork%20Belly%20-%20Maple%20Sugar%20Cure%20-%20Pre-Smoking%20-%20RZ.jpg The WSM was set up with all vents (top and bottom) wide open. Within an hour, the temp went over 110-deg in the WSM, so I closed the bottom vents to approximately 40% open. That seemed to do the trick and the internal temp within the WSM went down to and remained around 90-degrees. I flipped the belly/bacon over every 3 hours. Here's what the finished product looked like when I removed the WSM lid at the 12-hr end point (the A-MAZE-N pellet smoker also seemed to have exhausted its fuel at approximately the same point): http://cl3c0.pogoplug.com/svc/files/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/qgs8wS4TEvx9W3S5vpz5aA/20150916_215843%20-%20Bacon%20-%20Smoking%20Finished%20-%20RZ.jpg And here is what it looked like after I made the first of a few slices I took off for "testing", and before cooling in the fridge overnight for slicing tomorrow: http://cl3c0.pogoplug.com/svc/files/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/XCLDGABFDX5XQQJ4HSYLB7CHE2/47COcoWArJ6YlA_8jFFUoQ/20150916_220548%20-%20Bacon%20-%20Maple%20Sugar%20Cure%20-%2012%20Hours%20Cold%20Smoke%20-%20RZ.jpg Not pictured? Those slices I fried up in my cast iron and "tested" (I just didn't have the patience to wait to take a pic!). Nonetheless, the bacon came out fantastic. Far better than anything that you'd buy in a store! If you have the time and the will, I would strongly recommend checking out to see if your local Costco now has pork belly. Curing, smoking, cooking, and eating the bacon was very easy. The biggest challenge is simply having the time and being diligent enough to overhaul the belly and cure once a day. No matter, it's worth trying. All right, I'm doing this one too. |
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Buy a large disposable foil pan. Place chopped carrots, onions, and celery in the botttom. Place the pork belly rubbed with salt and pepper on top. Add enough chicken stock to cover the vegetables and cover tightly with foil. Roast in a 400° until the pork belly is tender NOT falling apart. Place in the refrigerator over night.
The next day, slice thick pieces of of pork belly (2" or so). Sear in a blazing hot, heavy pan until brown on both sides. Degalze pan with red wine. Add fresh minced garlic and reduce by a third. Add a little brown sugar to thicken as well as salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle over the pork belly and enjoy! |