Sunday 30 June 2013

Pig over, pig out - redux

I couldn't resist it - I had to cook pork belly again (slowly). That involved an early Saturday morning visit to the butcher with the little tackers to stock the freezer with meat, meat, meat. I had a choice between a 1kg pack of belly and a 2.5kg pack. I was tempted to go all out and get the big one, but I figured that even our family would have a tough time putting away that much pork in one go.

I followed the recipe this time - instead of sitting the pork belly in a sea of oil, I poured in water instead and slow cooked it for 10 hours.

The result was still pretty good - but nowhere near as good as the goofed-up oil bath method. The skin didn't crisp up as well at the end - I guess the steam from the water didn't help, whereas you don't have that problem if you slow cook it in oil. The oil method also produced a softer, more succulent result.

I'm now on a mission to try doing pork belly in a bath of duck fat. Choice - buy a can of duck fat, or cook some duck and save the fat.

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