Best Brined And Braised Pork Belly With Caraway Recipes

BRINED AND ROASTED PORK BELLY

Steps:

• Combine sugar, salt and spices in a large pot. Add 4 1/4 quarts water, and bring to a boil. Cool, then transfer to a large bowl and add pork. Let stand, loosely covered, for 3 days in refrigerator.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place onions in a roasting pan. Rinse pork, score skin with a sharp knife and place on onions. Rub skin with a bit of olive oil, and season lightly with sea salt. Roast, uncovered, 1 1/2 to 2 hours; do not let burn. Skin should be crisp; if not, transfer to hot broiler. Cut pork in thick slices, and serve with onions.

BRINED AND BRAISED PORK BELLY AND RIBS

Steps:

• In a large container combine the sugar, salt, black peppercorns, allspice berries and 2 gallons water. Add the belly and ribs. Refrigerate 24 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Remove the pork from the brine. Reserve spices. Cut the ribs from the pork belly and each rib from the rib rack. Remove sinew.
• Place ribs and spices in a large roasting pan. Set the belly, skin side up, on top. Pour enough broth to half cover the pork. Cover the pan with parchment and foil. Braise until a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees, about 2 hours. Let cool completely. Cut into 2- to 3-inch squares.
• When ready to serve, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Put belly squares and ribs on a baking pan. In a small saucepan heat butter, brown sugar, 1 cup braising liquid and kosher salt. Pour the sauce over the pork and heat in the oven, basting regularly, until warmed through, 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a sauté pan bring 1 cups of the braising liquid to a boil. Add the turnips and kale and braise, uncovered, until just tender. Season with salt and pepper. Onto each of 8 plates, place a rib, pork belly and some vegetables and top with a few spoonfuls of the brown-sugar sauce.

HOME-CURED PORK BELLY

Steps:

• In a spice grinder or mortar and pestle, peppercorns, cloves, allspice berries, juniper berries and hot red pepper flakes. Grind until coarse.
• Mix the spices with nutmeg, kosher salt and curing salt.
• Rub the spice and salt mixture all over a 10-pound piece of pork belly, with the skin. Peel and coarsely chop 1 head of garlic, combine it with 1/2 cup red wine, and rub this on the meat, too. The wine helps the salt find its way into the meat.
• Arrange a metal rack on a sheet pan with sides and place the meat on the rack, to allow airflow. Leave it in the refrigerator for a week. Turn it over daily and pour off any liquid. The tesa is ready when the salts have penetrated to the center, one to two weeks depending on how thick the belly is. Test after one week by tasting a thin slice from near an edge, crisped in a pan. Once cured, the tesa can be refrigerated, tightly wrapped, for a month, or frozen. Cook it as you would bacon or pancetta; it's especially good as crisp lardons in a salad.

CRISP PORK BELLY

Steps:

• In a blender, pulse marinade ingredients until roughly chopped. Transfer to a 1-gallon freezer bag and add pork belly and 1 cup water. Squeeze to remove air, then seal and refrigerate at least 12 hours.
• When ready to cook, heat oven to 275 degrees. Place pork in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish with marinade, butter and water to cover. Cover with heavy-duty foil, crimping edges tightly. Braise in oven 5 1/2 hours; let rest in pan, covered, 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, simmer bourbon in a small pan over medium heat until alcohol aroma fades. Stir in sugar, parsley, vinegar and pepper flakes. Cover and set aside.
• Heat a grill. Carefully remove pork from pan and place in a grilling basket. Grill skin-side down over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until skin is crisp and golden. Remove from heat and brush skin side with 1/4 of the bourbon glaze, then return to heat, skin-side up, for another 5 minutes. Remove pork from heat once more and brush meat side with 1/4 of the glaze, then return to heat, meat-side up, for another 5 minutes. Repeat with remaining glaze on both sides.
• Dress a cutting board with half the olive oil, lemon juice and chives, and salt and pepper. Place pork skin side up on cutting board and let rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining olive oil, lemon juice and chives, and salt and pepper. Cut into 1-by-4-inch pieces and serve.

BRINED-AND-BRAISED PORK BELLY WITH CARAWAY

Steps:

• Two days before serving the pork, prepare the brine: In a large skillet over low heat, toast the caraway seeds. Cool and grind in a spice grinder. In a large plastic container, combine the caraway, fennel, peppercorns, coriander, salt, brown sugar, garlic, cider vinegar and 4 cups water. Add the pork, cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.
• The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Remove the pork from the brine and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper. In a braising pan over medium-high heat, heat the oil. Add the pork and brown on all sides. Transfer to a plate. Add the carrot, celery, onion, garlic, thyme and 2 tablespoons toasted caraway seeds to the pan. Brown the vegetables until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Return the pork to the pan, skin side up. Pour in the apple cider and enough broth to cover the meat by three-fourths. Bring to a boil, then cover and braise in the oven until the pork is very tender, about 2 hours. Cool the pork in its cooking liquid and refrigerate overnight.
• The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Scrape off and discard excess fat from the braising liquid. Remove the pork and discard loose gelatin. Cut the pork into serving pieces and place in a wide saute pan with a heatproof handle. Bring the braising liquid to a boil and reduce by about two-thirds, or until it lightly coats the back of a spoon; strain. Pour just enough liquid over the pork to submerge halfway. Sprinkle with the remaining caraway seeds, then place the pan in the oven and heat through, basting occasionally. Top pork with sauce and serve with braised cabbage, a recipe for which can be found at nytimes.com/magazine.