YOU might be making the CRISPY PORK BELLY wrong!

I’ve been making the crispy pork belly for a few years and recently came to the realization that I’ve been making it wrong! Like a lot of recipes out there I’ve only focused on making the skin crispy and always ended up with somewhat dry meat. Here I’ll show you a simple hack that will yield both the crispiest AND juiciest pork belly!

BRINING is the process of placing the meat in a simple salt water solution, hydrating the meat so it starts with more liquid before the cooking process, and therefore remains juicy and tender after cooking. I saw David Chang mention randomly once that pineapple juice makes a superb brine, so I swiped that idea and incorporated it into my method. Can’t go wrong with pineapple and beer can we? Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1. Pork Belly: 2 - 3 lbs
2. Sea or Rock Salt - Enough to cover pork skin
3. White Vinegar - 1 tbsp

For the brine:

1. Beer: 1 cup
2. Pineapple Juice: 1 cup
3. Table salt: 1 tbsp
4. 1 Whole Garlic
5. Rosemary: 1 Sprig
6. Thyme: 1 Sprig
7. Onion

Instructions:

1. Heat pineapple juice, salt, garlic, rosemary, thyme, onion over medium heat. Bring to a low boil for 10 minutes, turn off, and let cool.
2. Once cooled, add beer. Note that the volume of your brine depends on the size of your pork belly and container. The general proportion for a basic brine is 2 cups liquid to 1 tbsp salt.
3. Poke holes in pork skin with meat fork or other sharp household utensils, try not to poke through to the meat.
4. Place pork in container for brining. If possible, raise the pork in container with non-metallic or wood utensils such as ceramic chopsticks so the brine gets underneath.
5. Pour brine into container covering the pork just below the surface of the skin.
6. Refrigerate overnight or 12 hours, uncovered.
7. Remove pork from fridge, pat skin dry, and wrap in tin foil leaving skin side open. Make sure tin foil on each side is at least 1cm higher than the surface of the skin.
8. Cover the skin well with layer of rock or sea salt.
9. Bake at 350C for 75 minutes.
10. Remove from oven and remove salt crust. Brush off remaining salt from all sides.
11. Broil for another 20 minutes on lower rack, rotating once or twice.
12. Remove from oven, cut, and enjoy!

Pro - Tips

1. Don’t cut the pork skin side up like I did in the video. I did it for theatrical effects. Turn the pork upside down and cut from the meat to the skin, it’s much easier.
2. Since everyone will have different size containers and pork belly, to know how much brine you need, simply place pork belly in your container, fill with water to just below the skin, and note the amount of water you added. The beer and pineapple juice proportion is 1:1 so just divide that volume by half to obtain the amount for each liquid.
3. Try not to poke holes through to the meat, otherwise the juice of the meat might escape through those holes, and impacting the crispiness as well.
4. Make sure the pork belly broils on the lower rack, to avoid charring.
5. While brining hydrates the meat portion of the pork belly, it’s important to note we are dehydrating the skin as much as possible at the same time - leaving it uncovered in the fridge, patting it dry, applying vinegar, and covering it with sea or rock salt.
6. Flavour your own brine and try different ingredients and herbs! As long as the ratio of liquid to salt is 2 cups liquid to 1 tbsp table salt.

[rackoflam]

Great video! Love the space, the all white kitchen and of course the crispy pork belly! Best part was the ending when you shared your food with your daughter and made her smile.

[FriendlyPharmacy]

👏Amazing! You make it look so easy. Love the presentation, and the special guest as well!