Crisp Pork Belly With Caramel Vinegar Recipes

BRAISED PORK BELLY

Steps:

• Gather the dry rub ingredients and pork.
• In a small bowl, combine the salt, fennel seed, allspice, and black pepper until thoroughly mixed.
• Rub onto all sides of the pork belly.
• Place the belly in a nonreactive pan and top the meat with any remaining dry rub.
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Gather braising ingredients.
• In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat.
• Sauté the onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes.
• Add the garlic and whole tomatoes and cook another 5 minutes.
• Add the wine and cook until evaporated.
• Add the cinnamon stick, star anise, juniper berries, cardamom, clove, and chicken stock. Bring to a boil.
• Heat the oven to 325 F. Remove the belly from the refrigerator and place in a roasting pan .
• Place the tomatoes around the pork.
• Pour the hot braising liquid over the pork belly.
• Cover with aluminum foil and place in the oven. Cook for 3 1/2 hours or until completely tender when pierced with a fork. (The pork belly can be prepared up to this point and refrigerated in the braising liquid until ready to proceed to the next step.)
• Remove the belly from the braising liquid and cool slightly. Raise the oven to 400 F.
• Cut the belly into 4 portions.
• Add a little oil to a hot skillet and sauté for 2 minutes, fat-side down. Finish warming in the oven for 5 minutes, then serve.

CRISP PORK BELLY WITH CARAMEL VINEGAR

Steps:

• Score the skin of the pork belly in a criss-cross pattern using a sharp knife. Rub the sea salt into the pork skin, and set the meat aside for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
• Wipe the salt from the pork skin with a paper towel and dry well. Drizzle a large roasting pan with enough olive oil. Place the pork belly in the pan, skin-side down, and drizzle with additional olive oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Sear the pork in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Then, reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees F and continue roasting for another 1 1/2 hours. At this point, carefully turn the pork over and roast for another 20 minutes, or until the skin is crisp.
• Remove the pork from the oven, tent the meat loosely in foil and set it aside to rest for at least 15 minutes. Slice the pork belly and drizzle it with some caramel vinegar. Serve with steamed rice, Bok Choy, and freshly chopped red chile.
• Serving suggestion: steamed rice.
• Put the sugar, vinegar, star anise and cinnamon in a small saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the mixture is syrupy.
• Stir in the chicken stock and simmer for another 5 minutes, or until slightly reduced. Add the orange juice and peel, reduce the heat to low and simmer gently until thick and syrupy. Season to taste.
• Put the soy sauce and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat and stir to dissolve the sugar. Simmer until the soy sauce has reduced by half. Remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice.
• Blanch or steam the bok choy until it is bright green and tender crisp. Drizzle with the sweet soy and lime and serve immediately.