Oh Holy Pork Belly!

Preparing pork belly was a first for me. David Chang's pork buns at Momofuku are what first turned me on to this most excellent cut of porky goodness. And it's become a standard at most of the new restaurants in town. So when I saw it in the display case on a recent trip to The Meathook, I thought, "why not?" 

I used David Chang's recipe as a guide (keep reading for my version) and served it up, dripping in sweet, salty, fatty, caramelized juiciness over cornbread smeared with kimchi butter (recipe also follows), kimchi, and topped with braised collard greens. It was a meal neither of us will soon forget.

look at that crust!

Easy Pork Belly

1-2 lb pork belly
kosher salt
sugar
ability to eat it all - because you'll want to

First, have your butcher remove the skin. If you want to make pork cracklin's, take the detached skin home with you. Otherwise, you don't need it for this recipe.

For every 1 lb of meat, mix up about 1/4 cup equal parts kosher salt and sugar. I prefer turbinado because of the similarity in granule size to the kosher salt, but you can use anything. Brown sugar would be the bomb, I'm sure. Rub the belly all over with the sugar-salt mix and "nestle it", as Chang says, into a roasting pan. This is important actually because the less space your belly has, the less likely it is to burn and dry out. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, but not more than 24. So if you wrap it up before work, this is an easy evening meal that takes very little time. Disgard remaining rub.

Pop your little pork baby into a 450 degree preheated oven and let it sizzle up for about 20-25 minutes. Baste with pan juices, and put it back in for another 20-25 minutes until it is glisteny golden on top and the smell of your kitchen makes you wish you were tiny enough to swim around in the liquid gold pool* that's rendered all around your pork belly.

Knock the heat down to 250 degrees and pop that little nugget back in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Let it rest for 10 minutes per lb and start slicing**. Try not to eat each slice as it glides off the knife. Trust me, you'll be as sorry as the time you ate only deviled eggs and beer at the family picnic because you were 'dieting'.

*At David Chang the Great's suggestion, I kept that golden pool of goodness, letting the solids separate and pouring off only what was on top. I put it in a jar in my refrigerator to solidify. You can cook with it like you would bacon grease. This morning's eggs were fried in it. All I can say is: Damn!

**Chang also recommends letting the meat cool, wrapping it in cling wrap and cooling in the refrigerator for easy slicing. I didn't find much difference in slicing before and after refrigerating, but if you can wait, or need to for some gawd-awful reason, it does make nice slices when cold. Gently warm them in a fry pan, but don't actually cook any further.

Kimchi Butter over Pa Sanders' Cornbread

Kimchi Butter

1 stick of butter
1/2 cup kimchi

Blend in a food processor.

If you're really precious, press it through a strainer for a smoother consistency, but we really liked it flecked with kimchi pieces.

Store in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 1 week.