Crispy Pork Belly
I was inspired by the dish I had at Alden and Harlow (crispy berkshire pork belly, served with corn succotash and grits), so I wanted to try and replicate it. I mostly followed the recipe posted by Food Wishes, "Pork Belly with Celery Root Puree" (without the celery root puree, of course). I also served it with a corn succotash, which is in a separate recipe. The technique for this dish is pretty interesting - essentially like a reverse sear, except with the intention of crisping the fat exterior instead of necessarily achieving a sear. The pork belly I used was of somewhat lower quality, and I didn't quite replicate the dish very well, but the technique itself is promising.
Active Time: 40 min
Total Time: 5 hr 30 min
Ingredients
> pork belly
> salt, pepper, paprika
Instructions
1. Remove the skin off of the pork belly.
2. Generously season all sides of the pork belly with salt, pepper, and paprika.
3. Tightly cover with aluminum foil. Bake in the center of a 250 degree oven for around 3-3.5 hours or so. Try to keep the fat side up if possible.
4. Remove from the oven without unwrapping the aluminum foil, and let it cool down to room temperature. Then let it cool completely in the fridge, at least 2 hours.
5. Unwrap the aluminum foil. Score the fat side with a grid of incisions roughly 1/8 inch deep, each 1/8 of an inch apart. Cut into serving-size pieces.
6. Make the crispy exterior by placing the fat side down into a skillet set over medium to medium-low heat. Continue to cook until crispy. To achieve better browning/crisping, you may wish to put a weight over the top of the pork belly.
7. Turn the heat up to high, and quickly sear each of the other sides of the pork to achieve a bit of color.
8. Remove from the heat and drain any excess fat. Serve and enjoy!
Notes/Tips:
> For this particular recipe, you should try to use a high-quality piece of pork belly that is roughly uniform in shape. It will be very difficult to achieve a consistent crisp texture on all of the pieces if they're differently shaped and not flat.
> In the instructions, I suggested cooking in a 250 degree oven for roughly 3-3.5 hours; realistically speaking the slower and lower the heat the better. If you have 6 hours to spare, reduce the temperature down to 200 degrees and cook it for that long.
> There are many steps along the way designed to keep as much juices contained within the pork belly as possible. In particular, do not try to crisp the fat when the pork belly is still hot out of the oven - it will be difficult to handle/slice, and all the juices will run out when you slice into it. Similarly, do not unwrap the aluminum foil when cooling it, even though it'll take a bit longer. Cooling it down is an important step, as it will also make the skin much easier to score, and altogether the final few steps will be much easier.
> I made the mistake of keeping my heat at medium-low when searing the other sides of the pork belly. This ended up drying out the pork a bit, which is why I recommend keeping the cooking time low and using a high heat for that step.
> Pork belly is a pretty rich and dense piece of meat. I would definitely recommend serving it with something light and fresh - a corn succotash is a good option. From my experience at Alden and Harlow, it also works pretty well with grits/polenta.