The Pork Belly Disaster

[luvnit]

So, its been a couple of weeks now so I think I am almost over the Pork Belly Disaster. I never want to look at another pork belly again. Let alone eat one, unless it is bacon, that I have purchased from the store or meat market. Everything seemed to be fine but really tasted disgusting!

I will try not to make this long, but I do have some questions about what may have gone wrong. Did I get a bad pork belly? Did I cook it long enough? Was it the wrong cooking method?


This is the package that my husband brought home.


I opened it up and everything looks great. See? Does it look fine to you?



This is my seasonings. Oh my did this smell great! I was so pleased. I even ground most of the seasonings from whole, so it was particularly fragrant.


I covered the entire slab with seasonings and it went back into the fridge for 2 1/2 days.



Into the oven it went. I cooked it at 275 for 4 hours. It didn't look 'done' to me, so I cooked another hour at 250. After that I took it out and let it rest.



I prepared the dressing, sliced the cheese, softened the butter, and got the gin and tonics ready.




Oh yeah, I heated up the kraut to take the chill off. This was my MIL homemade kraut. It is really great!



Then hubby sliced the pork belly up, and I prepped the sandwiches.



Next, I grilled them in a pan and served them.

Does everything look okay so far? I thought it looked okay. It smelled great too.

It tasted just OKAY. Maybe I should have done something differently. After I ate it, it sat in my stomach like a brick!

The next day I took the leftover pork belly out of the fridge. I thought maybe it wasn't done enough, so I put some in a pan and 'fried' it like bacon. It did crisp up, but it still had that same 'fatty' flavor that made me nauseous.

I had a half a slab left, it was the thicker part too. So I thought I would try to 'render' it again in the oven. I cooked it at 250 for three more hours. Let it rest and sliced it up. Still the same 'yucky' taste. I tried to think of things to 'make' with it and could not think of a thing. Even the thought of eating this again totally grosseed me out. Finally my hubby told me to just throw it away and move on.

So I did.

Well,did I do something wrong? Or do I just not like pork belly? Or was this pork belly extra fatty?

[cjs]

Pork belly is fatty which makes it such a rich flavor! That's number 1. When I thought about this recipe, I was wondering if it would be over-kill to use in a sandwich.

I don't think you did anything wrong and I don't think anything was wrong with your pork belly. That was such a shame. I normally use fresh pork belly on a charcuterie or meat/cheese platter as an hor d'oeuvre or diced within another dish.

You know, thinking about this, I wonder if the P.B. had been rendered (or fried) after slicing for the sandwiches would have helped.

Next time I do up some fresh Pork Belly, I may have to try this and see if it helps.

[luvnit]

Unfortunately I just found the fat sickening. I did try to fry some the next day, just to see if it was better. I will have to say it was better, but still too much for me. Ugh.

Well at least I know I probably didn't do anything wrong. Pork belly is better in small doses. I will keep that in mind.

Thank you for the input.

[cjs]

Roy is like you, Laura - a little goes a long way with him, also.

[Harborwitch]

I'm so sorry you didn't like it. We just think it's so unctuous and RICH.

One of the two pork belly reuben's I saw did cook the belly off on the flat top before putting on the sandwich.

I'm looking forward to trying it.

[Mare749]

Laura, I'm with you on this one. We bought some pork belly slices from a popular Asian food store when we saw other customers buying it up like it was candy. One of the Asian women in line with me said that she likes the really fatty pieces the best. We got it home and found it so disgusting that we threw it out. Must be an acquired taste is all I could figure.

[luvnit]

Glad I am not the only one. It was still fun to try and fun to make. Oh well, they can't all be winners.

[Gourmet_Mom]

I have only made bacon with mine, and we LOVED it, but I guess that's different. I'm saving my last piece for the Hoisin recipe Jean posted last year, I think. I really need to make that before Easter so I'll have an excuse to go back to Well's to get some more! William wants to do more bacon.

[luvnit]

Daphne I would still give it a try if I were you. sounds like Jean and Sharon really like it. I just need to remember smaller doses would be better for me.

[Gourmet_Mom]

Yea, Jean has already warned me. I had mentioned making the Hoisin recipe as a main dish item when I make it. She told me I only wanted a couple of small pieces for an appy and freeze the rest for future use when I get the urge. I figure I'll make it one Saturday and make a big pan of fried rice loaded with a little chicken or shrimp and loads of veggies for our main dish for the meal. That or play with sushi again.