Pork Belly "kind of" Confit

I'm sorry I've been slacking on the blogging...I hope you guys aren't too disappointed with me.

I've actually had some great fun opportunities. I got to be a judge for an Iron Chef event held by MASA, a student organization at UCSD.  It was super fun, I'll probably type up an essay for my next post on it :P!  And I just came back from something called Progressive Dinner held by Harvest Church English Congregation.  Groups drive to different houses for different courses, appetizer, entree and dessert.  So as hosts we get to cook for them.

Pork belly!

So I've had some food adventures but just haven't had much time to keep track of my own.  But today it's about Pork Belly Confit! Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home has a pork belly confit recipe which takes quite a bit of time but it is ALL worth it!

Into the brine it goes!

The brine for the pork belly was adjusted quite a lot for me since I don't have fresh herbs and it's hard for me to justify buying them each time since they usually wither and die fast...So it was a cooked brine with honey, salt, peppercorns, and Italian seasoning.  I completely forgot about adding garlic and bay leaves. Ugh...but it's okay, next time!

After cooking low and slow in the oven for 5 hours...

This is why it's ALMOST confit. It's supposed to be cooked in it's OWN fat which equals LARD. Yes I know it sounds gross, but I didn't have any at the time and I just REALLY wanted to make pork belly so I used canola oil and olive oil.  It was placed in an oven at 200 degrees F and cooked for 5 hours.  Oooh, all the pork belly fat just melted in...mmm mmm good!

Yumm!

The meat was SUPER tender, oooh so melt in your mouth tender!  I'm getting hungry again just thinking about it. However, I left the skin on and cut a couple pieces and seared it.  It looked better, but yeah, remind me not to try to eat the skin again...It was pretty much shoe leather in my mouth...

Remind me to buy a sharp knife -__-

No skin on pork belly!

The best pieces were salvaged and seared.  Delicious! Yeah probably one of the few  ways I will now go to for cooking pork belly!

Hope the directions are clear for the recipe! Let me know if you have any questions!

Pork Belly Confit
based off Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc at Home

Total time: 24 hours or more
Prep time: 5-10 minutes
Cook time: 5-6 hours

1 lb Pork Belly, skin on

Brine:
3 cups water
1/4 cup salt
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp Italian seasoning
3 garlic cloves, smashed skin on
4 bay leaves

Olive oil
Canola oil

-Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil, turn off heat and let it cool completely to room temperature

Pork Belly Prep:
-Place pork belly in a container large enough to hold the brine as well as the pork.  Cover the pork with the brine and let it sit in the fridge covered for 10-12 hours. (I did 14 hours and it was fine too, use less salt of you're going to brine it for a longer period of time)

-Remove pork belly from the brine and pat dry.  Place in a oven proof vessel maybe something like a loaf pan and cover completely with canola oil and/or olive oil.  Use whatever ratio you want or what you have on hand.
-Cook the pork belly at 200 degrees in the oven for 5-6 hours, begin checking at 4 hours to see if completely cooked.
-Afterwards, place the pork and the fat in a container, loosely cover the top with plastic wrap and place something heavy like a cast iron pan on top of the pork belly to press it down.  [I didn't do a very good job of this, but it is supposed to help the pork keep it's shape] Place in the fridge for 5-6 hours.

-Remove pork from fat/oil, try to drain and pat off the excess oil.  Cut off the skin with a sharp knife, running the knife under the skin and pulling it off as you go.  Cut it into desired shapes and sear the top of the pork belly (fat side down) until crispy and golden brown.
-Finish with some fleur de sel or just as is. It's quite delicious! Especially after all the time you've put into it!