Recipes

[Marp]

I have a 5 pound pork belly with which I intended to make bacon but circumstances won't allow that at this time.

Does anyone have a tried and true pork belly recipe they are willing to share?

[RedTop]

@Marp 
I would sear the meat on all sides then finish cooking in the oven.   You could also just cook it as you would a pork roast.  

Cooking pork belly renders a good amount of fat; it is cut specifically to be the tasty "streaked meat" and is usually pan fried to get the coveted fat for flavoring and that great strip of meat.   

[AyUpPetal]

I've never made pork belly, but with Chinese Lunar New Year coming up you might try a recipe from a great site I follow called The Woks of Life! I get their emails with recipes and they are easy and fun-it's a family that runs the website and makes all the family recipes. 

[GenXmuse]

I made this for my husband and he loved it! I have a hard time finding pork belly, so I don't make it often 

Spicy Korean Pork Bulgogi

An easy Spicy Korean Pork Bulgogi recipe made with thin slices of pork belly and a sweet gochujang sauce that can be served with a side of rice, wrapped in a lettuce or used in tacos!

 

Course Main Course

Cuisine Korean

Keyword Korean spicy pork recipe, spicy bulgogi recipe

Prep Time 1 hour

Cook Time 11 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 11 minutes

Servings 4 Servings

Calories 1026kcal

Author Joyce | Pups with Chopsticks

Ingredients

• 1 ½ lb 650g pork belly (or pork shoulder/pork butt)
• 3 stalks green onions (cut into 1 ½ inch chunks, including the whites)

Marinade

• 2 tablespoons garlic (grated, approximately 5-6 cloves)
• 1 ½ tablespoon ginger (grated, approximately 1 inch of ginger)
• 1 medium onion
• 3 ½ tablespoons gochujang
• 1 tablespoons soy sauce (or ½ tablespoons fish sauce)
• 2 tablespoons honey (or sugar)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons mirin cooking wine
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes - Optional, if you like it spicy)

Instructions

Preparation

• Remove the root end of the green onion and cut them into 1 ½ inch long chunks (including the whites of the green onions). Slice the thicker, white ends length wise again so it that it is the same thickness as the greens.
• If your pork belly comes with skin, remove the skin and discard it.
• Freeze the pork belly for 1 hour. This will make it easier to slice thinly. If you are using a larger cut of meat like a pork shoulder, you may need to freeze it for a longer period of time.

Marinate the Pork Belly

• Peel the garlic, slice the ginger and cut the onion into 1 inch cubes.
• In a food processor, blend the garlic, ginger and onion together into a paste. (You can also grate it by hand if you don't have a food processor.) Place the blended garlic, ginger and onion in a large bowl.
• Add the ingredients under 'Marinade' into the bowl with the garlic, ginger and onion and mix everything together.
• Remove the pork belly from the freezer and thinly slice it. I like to slice it approximately ⅛ inch or thinner.
• Add the pork belly into the marinade and mix everything well. Marinade it in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour (the longer you marinade it, the more flavorful it will be).

Cooking the Spicy Korean Pork Bulgogi

• Set the stove on high heat and set a non-stick frying pan or a high walled pot (to prevent splatter) on the stove and add a bit of oil into it.
• Once the oil is hot, add the pork belly in the pan (including any extra marinade, this will be the sauce)
• Pan fry on high heat for 8-11 minutes. Pork belly splatters quite a bit, so be careful or wear an apron to prevent staining on your clothes.
• Once the pork belly is cooked, turn off heat, add green onions and mix the onions around to let the heat wilt it.

3 Different Ways to Serve This

• The quickest way to enjoy this is to serve it with white rice.
• You can also share this and have it as lettuce wraps! Set out a pile of green leaf lettuce, some white rice and if you can find it, some perilla leaves. You can add a bit of rice, green onions and a piece of Spicy Korean Pork Bulgogi to the lettuce and wrap it and then eat it!
• This spicy Korean pork also goes well in tacos! If you're having a taco night, use this as the protein instead and top it with your usual taco toppings! (I like to add lime pickled red onions, sour cream and a bit of cheese)

[Marp]

:LOL Ladies, after reading your posts I'm beginning to think that my 5 pound pork belly is going to be divided into more than one recipe.

@AyUpPetal,  I only took a quick peek at the Woks website and I see a lot of rabbit holes down which to chase recipes.  Thank you.

@GenXmuse,  I'm salivating reading that recipe but it will have to go on the back burner until I place an order for gochujang.  I suspect it is an important ingredient and is the only one I do not have on hand unless regular chili flakes would not be a good substitute for Korean chili flakes.  Please let me know.

[cactusgal]

First thing I thought of was Pork Belly Chicharron. If you don't mind the calories.

[GenXmuse]

@Marp I use red chili flakes since I've never seen the Korean kind. But the sauce is important and I've found it in regular grocery stores at least! 

[Marp]

@cactusgal,  great suggestion but unfortunately since I intended to use the belly for bacon I had the skin removed.

The first time I made bacon I didn't know better and had the skin left on.  Delicious but very chewy edges.

[Marp]

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@GenXmuse wrote:

@Marp I use red chili flakes since I've never seen the Korean kind. But the sauce is important and I've found it in regular grocery stores at least! 

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@GenXmuse,  thanks.  After reading the ingredients in the gochujang I knew it would be important and not something that I could cobble together.

I have one local grocery where there is a remote possibility it will be available but I'm pretty sure I will have to order it online.  One of the not so joyous aspects of small town living.

[RedTop]

@Marp,
We always left the skin on our slabs of pork belly for easy slicing. Mom would take one of the frozen slabs out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator before she intended to cook it. In the morning she would take the butcher knife and cut the fat at skin level back as far as she intended to slice the bacon for breakfast. After she sliced the bacon, she put the slab back in the fridge. Once all the bacon was sliced off, that fat covered skin was either cut into pieces and put back in the freezer to be used as seasoning, or cooked slowly in the skillet to render the fat. After that it was fed to our beagles.