We were at Costco recently and came across a big package of pork belly in the meat section. Hmm, never made anything with this precursor to bacon. Why not? I'll see what I can do.
Today is the results of that experiment, which came out quite well in my opinion.
We're also starting the day off with a very popular dish in pancake houses across the nation. Love 46'r flapjack, those thin but oh-so-good pancakes you get there. Don't love how much you have to pay for them, though, so I came up with a way to cook them at home where they taste just as good as the cakes you get in the restaurant but made for a fraction of the price.
This week's menu is ready to go! Recipes at the links below.
Breakfast: 49'r Flapjacks
Dinner: Barbecued Pork Belly
DarrylCopyright 2016 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
Who doesn't like bacon? Well, this isn't bacon but pork belly is the meat that becomes bacon after curing. We're going to cook it as a dinner entree on the barbecue.
As with a lot of dishes, cooking the meat is just a formality. The key to this dish is the sauce.
Let's see what I have in the fridge that I can use for that purpose.
Here we go, an onion, some sherry, and raspberry preserves. That should work well with pork.
INGREDIENTS1 pound pork bellykosher saltpepperworcestershire sauce1/4 medium onion, finely chopped1 cup raspberry preserves1/4 cup sherry2 tablespoons butter (or, as I did today, bacon fat if you have it available)
Put the pork belly in a sealable bowl. Lightly sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper on each side. Splash on enough worcestershire sauce to have a fine coating on top. Seal and put in the fridge for later.
I need to find my smallest sauce pan. There it is. Holds about a pint, maybe a little more.
I had made some bacon for breakfast today, so I saved a little of the bacon fat to use in place of the butter for this. Heat up your bacon fat (or butter) in the sauce pan. When hot, put in the onions and cook until translucent (about 5 minutes).
Add the sherry and boil for 5 minutes, stirring a couple of times.
Pull out any large pieces of onion that might float up and discard.
Add the preserves and stir in. Boil 5-10 minues, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low and simmer for half an hour. Take pan off of heat when done.
On a charcoal barbecue grill with coals only on one side, place the pork belly over the direct heat and cover. Cook about 4 minutes on each side.
Move pork belly over to indirect heat, cover and cook for another 8 minutes per side. When done, remove and cover with foil. Let rest for 10 minutes.
Serve with sauce ladeled over the meat.
DarrylCopyright 2016 - Darryl MusickAll Rights Reserved
