Slow-Roasted Pork Belly is not something that I prepare often. It’s a risky option for guests because even enthusiastic carnivores sometime consider pork belly to be over the top. That fat cap! Which is also the reason I don’t prepare it just for us very often – it’s really just a big, meaty hunk of bacon, right? But it is soooo delicious – one should never say never. Just say ‘every once in a while’, OK?
It does take some time, but it’s hands-off for the most part, which give you an opportunity to focus on the side dishes. I really like pork with cabbage. In this case, I like to lean on Vietnamese flavors, using the cabbage salad from my Vietnamese Chicken and Cabbage Salad recipe – pungent and heady, yet sharp enough to tame the fattiness of the pork. Any crunchy salad would pair well with the succulent pork, really. Even a simple slaw, with cabbage and carrots.
Slow-Roasted Pork Belly
Ingredients
- 1 pork belly
- kosher salt or coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Prep the pork belly – Pat the pork belly with paper towels, drying it thoroughly, especially the skin – you want it to become crispy, crunchy. Refrigerate the pork belly, uncovered, for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight. This removes any excess moisture.
- Preheat the oven; prep the pork belly for roasting – Preheat the oven to 250℉. Using a very sharp knife, score the skin in a diamond pattern, cutting through the skin and fat but not into the meat itself. Rub salt into the scored skin, in and around all of the cuts.
- Roast – Place the pork, skin-side up, on a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment for easy clean-up. Roast until the meat is tender, about 2 hours.
- Crisp the pork belly skin – Increase the oven temperature to 400℉ for the final 20–40 minutes of roasting. Watch it closely during this stage as the skin quickly transforms into a golden-brown, bubbly crackling. You want to remove it from the oven as soon as it reaches this stage, before it chars.
- Rest, slice, and serve – Allow the pork belly to rest for at least 10 minutes so that the juices redistribute throughout the meat. Slice and serve.
If you’d like to be notified when new posts are added to this site, please subscribe below, and be sure to click through on the email you receive to confirm your subscription. If you don’t receive a confirmation email, please check your spam folder.
Leave a Reply