Slow-roasted Pork Belly With Cannellini Beans Recipe | Waitrose & Partners (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to cook pork belly fast or slow? ›

The secret to cooking pork belly is the combination of a gentle heat to tenderise the meat and short, high temperature blasts to crisp up the skin on the outside. Typically, recipes call for around 2 hrs at 180C/160C fan/gas 4, then a further 30 mins or so at 200C/180C fan/gas 6.

This is a tough muscle, so it needs a longer cooking time at low heat to breakdown the tough tissue." So, to serve up good roast pork, budget for at least 3-4 hours in the kitchen.

Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless, fatty cut of pork from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in Filipino, Hispanic, Chinese, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, Polish, Thai, and American cuisine. Pork belly. Uncooked pork belly.

Directions. Heat about 4 inches of oil in a deep-fryer or large saucepan to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Fry pork belly squares in batches until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.

boiling water trick

This helps to prep the skin to crackle as its now "pre-cooked" so to speak. Make sure to pat dry with paper towel to further dry afterwards.

Contrary to common belief, pork belly does contain omega-3 fatty acids, albeit in smaller quantities than fish or nuts. These healthy fats are well-known for their anti-inflammatory properties and are beneficial for heart health, brain function, and overall well-being.

Whether you remove the skin or not is a personal choice and there is a ton of debate about when and why to remove the skin. We leave the skin on most of the time, like when we are making bacon, and then remove it after the smoking process is finished. The skin can get very tough when cooking pork belly.

We soak the pork in water for about 20 to 25 minutes to wash away excess fat. Then we steam it for about 15 to 20 minutes until it's about 70% done. After that, we take it out of the water and poke holes in the pork with a needle and then rub it all over with salt and spices. Then we air dry it with a fan for 12 hours.

So, streaky pork bacon is pork belly, but pork belly isn't bacon. Instead, pork belly is the whole slab cut from the fleshy underside of a pig. Streaky pork bacon is cut from this slab. Pork belly is unsmoked and uncured, while much bacon found in the U.S. can undergo a lot of processing—not ButcherBox bacon, though.

The tender pork belly is most often used to make bacon, but there are other ways to appreciate this cut. Braise or roast it and enjoy the unique milky flavor – so different from cured bacon or conventional pork.

What are three ways that pork belly can be cooked? ›

The videos below from the guys over at ChefSteps shows you how to cook pork belly using three different methods: braising in the oven, pressure cooking (with a nice sear to finish it off), and of course, this being ChefSteps, sous vide.

Spray the meat with a mist of apple cider vinegar every 30 minutes. Once done, allow pork belly to rest for 15 minutes. While it rests, turn on the broiler. Cut pork belly into 1-inch cubes and place on a large, deep baking sheet or roaster.

Drizzle the olive oil over the pork rind and the meat, rubbing it in with your fingers for best results (if you need more oil, add more). Season the rind with a generous amount of sea salt (about 1 tablespoon). Transfer pork to a roasting dish and roast for 50 minutes, or until the rind crackles.

Dry the skin and rub salt into the skin and fat. Place in a dish and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight or for 4 – 5 hours. This allows the skin to dry out. If you don't have time to do this, use a hairdryer to dry the pork skin.

At around 2 hours, your pork chops will be cooked through (145°F) and have a texture similar to chicken breast — tender, but firm. Between 3 to 6 hours, the chops will have a texture closer to pulled pork; it will be easy to cut with a fork and will pull easily from the bone.

What happens during slow-cooking, with juice or sauce, is that the collagen that's in the meat's muscular tissues is gradually transformed into some kind of gelatin and thus allows the piece to be more tender, the more it simmers. With pork, we would also find the pork roast, especially the pork shoulder roast.

Slow roast 1 1/2 hours – Roast the pork in a 140°C/285°F oven (120°C fan) for a total of 2 1/2 hours. Keeping the temperature this low allows the meat to become tender, for the fat to render (melt) so we get the “confit” cooking effect, and also to dry out the pork skin yet keep it supple.