May 5, 2010

Lunch: Pork Belly!

This is possibly the most beautiful thing I’ve ever created:

Click image for larger, more mouth-watering version.

After procuring a nice chunk of pork belly from (you guessed it) the Meat Hook over the weekend, I was perusing the internet for a recipe when I came across David Chang’s no-frills pork belly recipe for Momofuku. (As always, a hefty body of related literature is appropriate here, but you can find plenty of documentation of Chang’s unlikely rise to gastrostardom with a [newly redesigned] Google search. For some quick background info, check out his profile in the TIME 100 this year.)

Obnoxious food nerd stuff after the jump…

In the interest of time and effort, I decided to forgo the buns for a sort of a deconstructed pork fried rice (yes I’ve been known to watch cooking shows, why do you ask?). In retrospect, I should have fried up the leftover brown rice—not quite traditional Chinese, I know; then again, neither am I—in the pork drippings with some caramelized garlic and shallots… maybe next time.

I had brined the belly for just over 12 hours, scaling the proportions down for the half-pound of belly I had on hand. Even though I wasn’t sure how much braising liquid to use—especially since I opted to use a small saucepan instead of a proper baking dish—I don’t think it really mattered: the pork turned out perfectly. So perfectly, in fact, that it fell apart when I tried to slice it—hence, the haphazard presentation. (Note: that’s only half of the pork belly; I’m saving the rest for later.)

The jumbo fried egg got away from me a little bit; I think a large egg would have sufficed. Footnote: I’ve recently taken to variations on eggs and bacon, which lend themselves to a surprisingly broad range of delicious combinations and interpretations. For example, you could just as well put the pork belly and fried egg over penne with shaved parmesan and black pepper on top and call it a deconstructed carbonara (a strong contender for the other half of the belly…)

I suppose I went a little overboard with the [hyperlocal] fresh spring onion—I was too hungry to use discretion (or take good photos) at that point. Similarly, I almost forgot to salt and pepper the egg, which is probably more a sign that I need to cook/eat more eggs than anything else. A pickled carrot and cucumber julienne would have added a nice pan-Asian touch… again, maybe next time.

…because there most certainly will be many, many ‘next times’ in the near future: if you can get your hands on some fresh pork belly, this is a simple, tasty, (dare I say it) homey recipe for any occasion.