Uncommon ingredients such as pork belly should be embraced

Some home cooks tend to shy away from cooking novel cuisine, effectively binding themselves to the confines of foods and techniques that are familiar. That’s a shame. Many of the cooks I've spoken with cite fear of failure as the main reason they are hesitant to work with unfamiliar ingredients. Mistakes are okay--and even necessary--to make as they facilitate growth as a cook. Simple mistakes are avoided by remaining calm. Start from the beginning, give the dish some thought and planning for some hours or maybe days beforehand, and examine the steps involved. Cooking is not brilliance and magic, as many people tend to think, but rather is a methodical process that requires patience and understanding.

One of my favorite commonly underutilized ingredients is pork belly. Though many American families eat bacon every morning (made from pork belly), that seems to be the extent of America’s exposure to the ingredient. Bacon is cured, smoked, and thinly-sliced pork belly. The raw product is far more versatile. Chinese cuisine commonly features braised pork belly, but unfortunately with the exception of crock pot recipes and authentic barbecue, braising has become a seldom used cooking technique in American cuisine.

Braising can be used to render just about any part of an animal edible. Applying heat to a product serves to break down the connective tissue. Collagen breaks down into gelatin, an irreversibly hydrolyzed form of the protein. Braising also softens the lean protein and renders fat out of a product. To make a cut of pork belly palatable, I typically braise it in aromatics, cut into 3x6 rectangles, score and then sear fat side down in oil. The result is an extremely flavorful cut of pork where the fat is as crispy as bacon and the lean portions are tender enough to eat with a spoon.

Whole pork belly that has been scored, studded with clove, and braised with mirepoix, cinnamon, and orange peel for three hours

Though some cooks tend to take a minimalist approach to serving pork belly in order to accentuate the meat, it can also be served with a variety of sauces or flavorings:

Chef Tylor Dinteman’s pork belly appetizer featured at Savage River Lodge is braised with mirepoix and herbs, seared to golden brown, and served atop shredded sour red cabbage. The acid from the red wine vinegar used to cook the cabbage cuts through the flavor of the fat on the pork belly, effectively make the dish an upscale take on the tradition pork and sauerkraut combination.

Braised and seared pork belly served over shredded sour red cabbage

Asian pork belly dishes are fairly common. Asian styles are typically served with the rind or skin still attached to the fat cap. Asian pork belly also differs in that it is usually seared first, then braised with scallions, fresh ginger slices, soy sauce, and rice wine or sake. An accompanying sauce can be constructed by reducing the braising liquid.

Chinese steamed pork belly over braised mustard greens

At a party I recently catered, I braised pork belly with cloves, orange peels, bay leaves, and cinnamon. I seared 2x2 cubes fat-side down in a cast iron skillet for 25 minutes, then plated the pork belly atop lentils and finished the dish with a spiced orange gastrique. A gastrique is made with caramelized sugar and vinegar, then flavored with an ingredient of the cook’s choice. In this case, I reduced orange juice, cider vinegar, and brown sugar with juniper berries, bay leaves, mustard seed, peppercorns, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. The reduction was strained and used as a glaze to finish the dish.

Braised and seared pork belly over lentils with a spiced orange gastrique

One of my favorite pork belly dishes is simplistic in construction but bold in flavor. While I was working under Tylor Dinteman, then Sous-chef at Rocky Gap Lodge, he constructed a braised and seared pork belly with melted gorgonzola, garnished with a lemon-dressed microgreen salad.


It is worth noting that one does not have to braise raw pork belly in order to make it palatable. Home cured pancetta is one of the most fulfilling projects a cook might immerse themselves in. Likewise, homemade bacon is just as satisfying to make. Last May, I cured and smoked jalapeno bacon at home. My friend and fellow cook Joshua Herrell cured a red miso bacon that is absolutely phenomenal.