Last night I made some braised-roasted pork belly. It was pretty good, with a couple of adjustments that'll I'll remember next time.
This isn't an all-figured-out recipe, but it went as follows:
Pick a piece of belly that is of more-or-less uniform thickness. Cut into reasonably square pieces. Brown on skin and meat sides. Place in pressure cooker, skin side up, with a bunch of daikon radish (probably optional, could use shallots), some duck wing tips (ditto, could use chicken or skip), soy sauce, sake, peppercorns, and enough water to more-or-less cover the pieces. Cook on high pressure for 35 minutes. (Alternatively, 2 hours braising in
covered pot in oven.) Release pressure, remove belly pieces and place, skin side up, in oven-safe pan. Add enough of the liquid from the pressure cooker to come near the top of the pieces, but - important - do not submerge the skin. Place in oven (temperature is not critical - 350-400F) and braise
uncovered for at least an hour, basting the skin occasionally with braising liquid. Strain solids from the rest of the liquid and reduce to sauce thickness. Add a bit of cornstarch or other thickener if desired, but don't make a flour-y, cream-y gravy - this is supposed to be a concentrated, intense, dark sauce.
You are braising the meat and fat, while roasting the skin and reducing the sauce, all at once - take a bow! The belly is done when the pieces are tender enough that a skewer slides through with little effort, but the skin is medium-brown and crisp but definitely not overcooked to ''hard''. Poke skin with a skewer every now to check. If you want, you can honey-glaze the skin during roasting, or include a brief broiling step, to get a deeper colour. Or, lightly score the skin before cooking, in case it gets a touch hard.
Note the importance of uniform thickness: on thicker pieces. the skin will be more exposed and will overcook more quickly than pieces where the skin is just hovering above the surface of the liquid. I got messed up on that. See the picture - the smaller pieces shrank during the pressure cooking, they got thinner, the skin was right at the liquid level in the subsequent roasting/braising, that skin was perfect. The big piece, the skin was much higher than the liquid, it was a little hard. I suppose one could ''shim'' the thinner pieces with a slice of something underneath.
To serve, cut into 1'' x 1'' sections. It helps to place toothpicks through the belly, to hold the pieces together, before you start slicing. Sauce liberally and serve hot.
This is a disgustingly fatty dish, and you don't want to see how everything congeals when it cools (imagine your arteries), but damn is it good.
