Finally back with a "recipe" (we use this term pretty fast and loose around here, as I am certainly no chef) and it is for something I had never prepared before! While I've had pork belly a few times at restaurants (most recently, confit'd in a taco at Five Horses Tavern in Davis Sq), I had never come across it at the grocery and, consequently, had never attempted to cook it myself.
Until, of course, I made a trip to my recently discovered obsession, the Chinatown grocery, the other day and there was a big ol' slab of pork belly, just waiting for me to take home (for under $3. Okay).
After work on Monday, I was going to try to braise said pork belly as many recipes called to online, but I quickly realized that would make for a 10PM (or later) dinner, which is sometimes fine, but I was starving. Instead, I decided to take my man out for dinner, and plan on slow-cooking the pork belly all day on Tuesday. I looked for some recipes online--and then just decided to wing it.
The end result was this absolutely delicious melt-in-your-mouth hunk of meat that paired perfectly with pan-fried noodles. Next time you find yourself with a big piece of pork belly, here's what to do:
What it's Made of:
- 1 boneless (mine had a piece of bone in it? Whatevs) slab pork belly
- Salt, pepper
- 1 T olive oil
- Chicken broth
- Star Anise (again, I have this in tea bag form, so I used two of said tea bags, if you have actual anise pods, I would say a few of them. To reiterate--I am really using the term "recipe" liberally here)
- 1 t ground Chinese 5 Spice
- 1 t ground ginger (Or 1 T grated fresh ginger, if available)
- 1 t dried thyme
- 1 t dried tarragon
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 T soy sauce
- 1 T Sriracha
- 1 t fish sauce
- Heat oil over med-high heat in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet
- Rub pork belly on all sides with salt and pepper
- Brown pork belly on all sides, about 2-3 mins/side, except very-fatty top part (which you want to render while slow cooking).
- Place pork belly on a paper-towel lined plate to drain off some grease
- Pour about 2" of chicken broth into slow cooker
- Add star anise, 5 spice, ginger, thyme, tarragon, bay leaves, soy sauce, Sriracha and fish sauce to the broth, stir to combine
- Place pork belly in slow cooker with fatty-side-up
- Ensure the broth comes about halfway-up the side of the pork belly, not submerging it entirely
- Cook on low in slow cooker for at least 8 hours (I let mine go about 9)
- Remove from slow cooker, remove very top layer of fat, shred meat and add to soups, sandwiches, tacos, noodles, ANYTHING!
What it's Made of:
- 1-2 cups rice noodles
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 ribs celery, diced
- 1/2 head red cabbage, diced
- 2 baby bok choy, rinsed and cut into 2" pieces
- Handful cilantro, torn
- Slow-cooked pork belly, pulled into pieces
How it's Made:
- Bring a pot of water to a boil
- Add some of the pork cooking liquid to a skillet (or just use olive oil if that is not available) and heat over medium heat
- Add garlic to skillet and cook for a few minutes, stirring so it doesn't burn
- Add celery and cabbage to the skillet and continue to stir
- Add rice noodles to the boiling water, separating them as much as possible. Boil for ~1 minute
- Add rice noodles to the skillet and stir
- Add salt, pepper and a dash of soy sauce
- Add bok choy and cover until it begins to wilt, ~3 minutes
- Serve! Top with pulled pork belly and cilantro
As you can see, as someone who almost never clears their plate, I loved this.
Hope you do, too!
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