The Pork Belly served at Viridian restaurant in Oakland, Calif., on Sunday, April 18, 2021. As restaurants emerge from the pandemic shut downs, the industry is in the middle of its biggest staffing crisis yet. Owners describe it as a perfect storm: a tight labor market, then laid-off workers left the region en masse, started their own small businesses or found jobs in other industries. (Photo By Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)
Food - Drink
The Big Mistake You Might Be Making With Pork Belly
By HOPE NGO
Cooking a slab of pork belly can be challenging for home chefs. With its thick layers of fat and meat, this cut is nothing like pork chops, tenderloin, or steak, but to chefs like Chicago's Jared Wentworth, pork belly "is an awesome cut of meat and is incredibly versatile" — here's how to not mess up a beautiful slab of belly.
Pork belly can be cooked in many ways, such as roasted in an oven or braised in rock sugar and soy sauce in a classic Northern Chinese preparation. No matter the cooking method, patience is absolutely essential to pork belly, so don't make the mistake of rushing it, and instead cook it at lower temperatures for a longer time.
Cesar Herrera, chief instructor at the Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts, recommends slowly cooking pork belly "so it gets very tender and the fat has time to render to baste the meat as it cooks." Aim for 3-4 hours of cooking and let the belly rest for 10 to 15 minutes before serving, for tender pork that can easily be pierced with a fork.