Wednesday 28 March 2012

Back on the old horse! Err, pig!

Please accept my humble yet vehement apologies for being so lax with this blog lately...I've been <cliche>very busy</cliche>. So enough with the schlepping, I have many entries to get caught up on. The first one will be about pork belly...the Grand Czar of all fatty meats.

Pork belly is, in essence, the belly of a pig :P ... Think bacon, except kept in it's whole slab form, and not cured or smoked in any way. Bacon (slab or sliced), on one hand, is treated with a salt and sugar cure, and smoke is imparted one way or another (naturally or artificially). The cure is called TCM (tinted curing mixture)...it contains nitrates that artificially tint the meat pink. That's right! Cooked pork or ham is not naturally pink! It's supposed to be white, when left unadulterated by cures and the like. Pork Belly: It's what's for DINNER!

So pork belly is literally raw pig belly fat. Sounds good right? It is! The pork belly I procure for the restaurant is of the Berkshire variety (special black furred pigs raised in the standard of the Royal family, or so the story goes). It is very firm and creamy to the touch. Let's cook it!!! Shall we just season it up and chuck it on the grill? Sure, especially if you want to set off the fire suppression system! Here's how the pork belly is prepared, as illustrated in the above picture...

I began by lightly scoring the pork belly in a criss-cross fashion. Then, I rubbed in a salt, pepper and thyme mixture, then added a little homemade crystallized garlic. I made sure that I seasoned all surfaces, then laid it into a shallow hotel pan, and partially submerged it in melted duck fat (the other Grand Czar of fats...more on that later). I added a few toasted black peppercorns, a few feuilles de laurier (Bay leaves) and a couple cloves of garlic. I wrapped this pan with aluminum foil, and placed it into a 275F convection oven for 2.5 hours. I let it rest, still covered, for another hour. Then I uncovered it, and let it come to room temperature. Let me tell you, the investment of patience is well worth it. Cutting off a piece of this confit (slow cook in large amounts of fat), and savouring it, allowing it to melt, was absolute heaven. The meat that is intermingled with the layers of precious fat is super tender, and requires next to no chewing, thanks to the lovingly slow cook method that embodies 'confit'. This, for me, is the absolute nirvana of porkdom. Pork belly (Berkshire or otherwise) is available from your local butcher by special order.

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