Crispy Brined Pork Belly
When you’re using fresh, 100% grain-fed pork in your recipes, you want to enhance the full, rich flavors of the meat, not hide them. We hope you enjoy this wonderful Pork Belly recipe shared with us by Jake Mortensen using our own Sweet Mercy Farms pork belly. Find him on Instagram @foodmorty.
Ingredients:
1.5 lb Grain-fed Pork Belly
4 cups water
¼ cup kosher salt
½ cup brown sugar
Pork Belly is the same primal that bacon comes from. Pork belly is basically a side of bacon that is not cured or smoked, but has that same rich, robust flavor.
Make a simple brine:
Brining not only gives you the opportunity to add flavors to your meat, but it also tenderizes and makes the meat nice and juicy. A salt brine also helps make the outside of the meat crispy in the oven. This brine is extra simple, but feel free to experiment with spices like thyme, sage, bay, peppercorns or tarragon. You can also exchange the brown sugar for molasses or real maple syrup.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add ¼ cup kosher salt to dissolve. Add the brown sugar and let cool to room temperature.
While the brine is cooling, score a diamond pattern on the top of the pork belly with a sharp knife. Make the cuts about ¼” deep and ¾” apart.
Once cool, pour the brine in a gallon zip-lock bag and place the pork belly in the bag. Take out all of the air, so the brine covers every part of the meat. Place the pork belly in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. When you’re ready to cook the pork belly, discard all the brining liquid and pat the pork belly dry with a paper towel.
Heat your oven to 500 degrees to crisp the outside of the pork belly for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 275 for about an hour, or until the pork belly is fork tender. If the top of the pork belly starts to get too crisp, tent with aluminum foil inside the oven.
Serve this as a sumptuous main dish with sides of crisp green vegetables and crusty bread, or slice it up nice and thick for a very special BLT.