Friday FUNdamentals: Pork Belly

There was much discussion amongst the test kitchens as to whether or not cooking pork belly was a 'fundamental' or not. Here was our final verdict: it's delicious (think: bacon on delicious, yummy steroids), easy to prepare, inexpensive ($6.00 a pound) and a really impressive appetizer to serve guests. That puts the 'fun' in fundamentals for us!

Last weekend the Wisconsin Test Kitchen went to the local butcher shop to pick up some steaks to grill (yay for warm weather!)- and found pork belly at the meat counter. We couldn't resist. After a little investigating via Pinterest, we found an easy recipe we had all the ingredients for.

Honey Pork Belly
Recipe inspired by http://justonecookbook.com/recipes/honey-pork-belly/

3/4 lb. pork belly

Oil

2 Tbsp. honey

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. fish sauce

2 garlic cloves

 

Slice pork belly into 1/4" pieces.

 

 

 

Chop garlic finely.

 

Heat oil in a large frying pan and start cooking pork belly on high heat when the frying pan is hot. The oil might splatter, so be careful.

 

 

 

When both sides of the pork belly are brown, turn off the heat. Remove pork belly from pan. Once the pan has cooled slightly, completely wipe any oil or residue from the pan.

 

 

 

Add pork belly back to the pan, and turn the heat to medium. Add the honey, soy and fish sauces, and garlic to the pan. Cook over medium heat until the ingredients start to glaze the meat.  Try not to burn the sauce.

 

 

 

Once sauce is warmed through, your pork belly is complete!

 

 

This was an appetizer the Wisconsin Test Kitchen devoured in record time. Considering a comparable appetizer in a nice restaurant would run at least $12; we were pretty happy with the end result. While pork belly might not be an ingredient you cook with all the time; it's an easy ingredient (remember: bacon on yummy steroids) and it's guaranteed to impress dinner guests. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

 

Stay Cool,
The Cool Dads Crew