The crispy chewy bite hides behind the soft unctuous bite in this flavour packed dish.

The braised cabbage was the perfect accompaniment to the pork belly confit, but the slaw was the perfect foil as the contrast of the crisp, cold crunch offered further indulgence into this unctuous umami packed bite of piggy. (MEOW – I mean, OINK!) Do you hear my “man growl”?

Or snort. Maybe it is a snort. Looking at the picture above has my head jerking precariously from side to side as a literal pin ball of flavour is awakened and rampages through my taste memory.

The first time I tasted pork belly was two years ago at Indulgence 2009. It was Irvine’s pork that year, too. I had about one square centimetre and was determined to learn how to make my own. Yes, it has taken this long! I am a slow reader.

No. It took my second experience eating it. I had it again for dinner at Kevin Kossowan’s house and though everyone knows I don’t eat meat, I ate the meat on my plate that night. Unforgettable. Later, I learned that he didn’t cure it at all. He just “threw it in the oven with some rendered pork fat and baked it low and slow”. It was every bit as delicious as this one was.

I immediately ordered fat from Irvine’s and rendered my own lard to make this dish. (If you read that post you probably thought I had lost my mind… oh…. no!)

But, then, it was apple season and I got caught up in rendering leaf lard and making pastry. When it came time to do the pastry tasting* (my home rendered leaf lard pastry vs Kevin’s home rendered leaf lard pastry vs that of Tenderflake) I decided to accompany that with a dinner and this was one of the dishes on the menu. This, a duck confit tasting (coming soon at a food blog near you), and Derek Ingraham’s brisket recipe. It was an evening of tastings!

I was intimidated with how to serve it. I knew I wanted a piece of meat or two on top of each dish, but I didn’t know how to “carve” the meat. Fortunately, Kevin was able to assist! You may think that is funny, but when I saw the pork belly cooked, I really didn’t want to “mess it up” by fishing into the meat and maybe breaking up the pieces. My experience with duck confit is that if it is over cooked, it just falls apart. This doesn’t happen with pork belly confit. With a couple of forks, you just push the fat away from the meat and the warm meat easily releases from the fat. As I had sectioned the belly, it was easy to continue through that slice with the fork and get fairly even chunks of meat.

Below is a side photograph of the middle of a pork belly. You can see it has a considerable amount of meat… and fat! This is after it has been cured and I am removing it from the curing ingredients to prepare for cooking.

It is one pork belly. Half is still in the roaster. It fit better when I cut it.

I have now removed it from the cure, and patted it dry.

I covered the bottom of the roaster with a generous layer of home rendered lard. I decided to cut the halves into nine squares each as I felt that would make the pieces easier to plate when the time came. I only cut the skin. I didn’t cut through the meat. I completely covered the pork belly with the lard (bottom, right).

I cut this one (below) a little deeper. The Berkshire Boar is a black haired pig, thus the black dots on the skin.

Out of the oven 12 hours later. Gorgeous! (I froze half)

I would make this again in a heart beat. As a matter of fact, I have vowed to have some pork belly confit on hand at all times. It is just that good.

Notes:

• The pork belly keeps about 2 months completely submerged in the lard, in the fridge. It is easily reheated on the stove top. I froze mine in a container submerged in the fat so that when I serve it, it can go directly into the oven as it is.
• Pink salt, a curing salt with nitrite, is called by different names and sold under various brand names, such as tinted cure mix or T.C.M., DQ Curing Salt, and Insta Cure #1. The nitrite in curing salts does a few special things to meat: It changes the flavor, preserves the meat’s red color, prevents fats from developing rancid flavors, and prevents many bacteria from growing. I didn’t have any, or know where to get it when I made my Foie Gras au Torchon last year, and Kerry, The Chocolate Doctor read about my plight on e-Gullet and out of the goodness of her heart, sent me a package of it in the mail. Isn’t that phenomenal? I have tried to “pay it forward”, Kerry!

Pork belly is rich. So rich. And so worth every        single       bite.

*The Pastry Tasting Dinner was very revealing as far as the pastry tasting itself went and I may one day post the results. If you want information, ask and I will e-mail them to you.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0V2c-t6qL8

After Duck Confit, and Brisket, I had to try steak and pork chops in the Sous Vide Supreme! A beautiful strip loin and a lovely ribeye with two wonderful chops all from Ben’s Meats.

Steaks were seasoned with Schwartz’s Montreal Steak Spice that we bought when in Montreal with a little Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper then vacuum sealed with my Foodsaver.

The pork was simply seasoned with salt and pepper. All three went into the water oven at 130°F for 12 hours.

After carefully chilling them in an ice bath (50% of ice, minimum) immediately after the cooking time was up, I placed them in the fridge for a couple of days for Lillian and Dan to taste when they were over to do the scallops and the Key Lime Pie.

When I released them from their pouches, each contained a beautiful jelly that was bursting with flavour. I heated the grill to 700ºF, and seared each side for 30 seconds or less.

We were all camera happy that day! Look at the flame hitting this beauty. The grill was so hot, that it did not take long to get this sear: a little less than 30 seconds per side.

The pork does look a little anemic, but it still had grill marks~

And cutting into each piece of meat was a visual delight, but the pleasure was all in the tasting. For some reason, no one got a cross section of the pork. The strip loin was the favourite of the three of us, but Vanja preferred the ribeye (he just popped home for a few minutes). I cannot even eat meat as I have some digestion issues, but this was so tender I had no problem eating this. I was incredulous. The flavour was like a steak, but in neon colours, flavour-wise. Outstanding. And a very new experience for me.

I thought I would get many more steaks through the water oven before its departure, but I did not. The experience was second to none! And Lillian and Dan were great tasting partners!

Douglas Baldwin’s Pan or Grill Seared Steak Recipe

Ingredients:

• 10 ounce steak, boneless
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• High-smoke-point oil, such as grapeseed, peanut, or vegetable

Instructions:

1. Preheat the water bath to 130°F (55°C) for a medium-rare steak or 140°F (60°C) for a medium steak (we chose 130 to cook the pork with the beef)
2. Vacuum-seal each seasoned steak in a separate pouch
3. Put the sealed pouches into the water bath and cook tri-tip steaks for 6–8 hours or top sirloin steaks for 1–2 days (24–48 hours); we had strip loin and ribeye, so I chose a 12 hour time
   

Freezing: You can freeze the cooked steaks for up to a year.

1. Put the sealed pouches into an ice water bath that’s at least half ice for about 30 minutes
2. Dry the pouches with a towel and put them into a freezer
3. To reheat the steaks, put the frozen pouches into a preheated 130°F (55°C) water bath for about 45 minutes
4. Remove the steaks from their pouches; a slightly greenish-brown color is normal and will disappear after searing (I did not see this on our steaks)
5. Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and generously season them with salt and pepper
6. Pour just enough oil into a heavy skillet to cover the bottom; heat the oil over high heat, watching carefully, until it just begins to smoke (I grilled mine as described above)
7. Sear each side of the steaks until it’s a deep mahogany brown, about 15–25 seconds per side. Work in batches, if necessary, to avoid overcrowding the skillet
8. Remove the steaks from the skillet and blot them with a paper towel to remove excess oil

Alternative: The steaks can also be finished on the grill

1. Preheat a gas or charcoal grill until it’s very hot; lightly oil the steaks and season them with salt and pepper (woops, missed this part)
   
2. Put the steaks on the very hot grill and sear each side until it’s mahogany brown, about one minute per side (took only about 30 seconds per side)
   
3. Serve immediately

Douglas Baldwin’s Flavored Butter for Pan-Seared Steak Recipe

(I didn’t make this because it was about the sous vide experience, and I was doing a tasting, not a meal)

Ingredients:

• 4 cooked sirloin steaks, seared and warm
  
• 8 tablespoons (125 ml/114 g) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml/5 g) ketchup
• 1⁄2 teaspoon (2 ml) prepared Dijon-style mustard
• 1 clove (3 g) peeled garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) anchovy paste or 1 canned anchovy fillet, rinsed and finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml/3 g) small capers, drained
• 4 teaspoons (20 ml/14 g) peeled and chopped shallot
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml/8 g) chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml/3 g) chopped fresh chives
• 1⁄2 teaspoon (2 ml) dried dill weed
• 1⁄2 teaspoon (2 ml) dried ground tarragon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon (1 ml) ground white pepper
• 1 teaspoon (15 ml) lemon juice

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, use a mixer to beat the butter until it’s lightened in colour and is creamy
2. In a separate bowl, stir the ketchup, mustard, garlic, anchovy, capers, shallots, parsley, chives, dill, tarragon, white pepper, and lemon juice until it’s well mixed
3. Stir or beat the herb mixture into the butter until it’s smooth
4. Top each warm, seared steak with a quarter of the flavored butter and serve immediately

Douglas Baldwin’s Traditional Style Pork Chops Recipe

Instructions:

1. While pork can be safely cooked at 130°F (54.4°C), many people find the slightly pink colour of pork cooked at this temperature to be unsettling; to compensate for cooking to medium (instead of medium rare), I highly recommend brining the pork chops to break down some of the support structure of the muscle fibres and to increase the water holding capacity of the meat; the maximum water uptake occurs when brining in a 7–10% salt solution, with the chop absorbing 20–25% of its weight
   
2. Brine in a 7% salt, 3% sugar water solution (70 grams salt and 30 grams sugar per 1 litre) in the refrigerator for one to two hour (if tenderizing with a Jaccard, do so before brining)
3. Rinse, dry with paper towels and season with Kosher salt and coarse ground pepper; vacuum seal pork chops (one per bag)
4. To cook, place in a 141°F (61°C) water bath for the cooking times, see Douglas Baldwin’s table (I used the temperature indicated in number one)
   
5. Rapidly cool in ice water and freeze or refrigerate at below 38°F (3.3°C) for up to three to four weeks until needed
6. Remove chop from vacuum bag, pat dry with a paper towel, then sear quickly with a blowtorch or in a pan with smoking vegetable or nut oil, or on a grill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKdDfunjYio

It’s blasphemous to put that beautiful pork on that pathetic bun, isn’t it? I am so busy with the sous vide machine, I haven’t been baking my breads! Look at that luscious pork!

The beautiful pork shoulder roast was cut into five portions that were marinated in a 70% salt and 30 % sugar solution for 12 hours, rinsed well, patted dry, and seasoned with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

Each seasoned portion was placed into its own bag, 2 tablespoons of duck fat were added, then vacuum sealed and cooked for 24 hours at 155°F (68°C). The pieces were to be about 7 ounces each, Mine were about double that, but were as thick as they were to be, so I didn’t adjust the time or the temperature.

Look at how beautifully they come out of the bag. The jelly is phenomenal: it is a distillation of the flavours and I kept it to mix with the barbecue sauce, but I did remove the fat.

I have never made any kind of pulled pork before. Pulling it was easy, but I think I should have cut the pieces the other direction so the pulls would be the length of the pork instead of such short little tugs of meat. The meat was moist and lush and full of flavour. Vanja thought the sauce I used didn’t work well with the meat. I thought it elevated it 200%. But, I am not the pork eater. The barbecue sauce is home made and a wonderful sauce that I use on ribs cooked the traditional way.

I mixed some of the sauce in the pulled pork with the jelly. I thought it was deadly delicious. Vanja thought it was: “Good.”

Douglas Baldwin’s Pulled Pork Recipe

Ingredients:

• Pork Roast (Boston Butt Roast or Picnic Roast)
• Lard
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

1. If bone-in, remove the bone from the pork roast with a boning knife; either cut roast into steaks which are roughly 7 ounces each, or cut the roast so that it is no more than 70 mm (2.75 in) thick (I used the thickenss as a guide)
2. Brine roast in a 7% salt, 0–3% sugar water solution (70 grams salt and 30 grams sugar per 1 liter) in the refrigerator for six to twelve hours ( I did the 3% sugar and 12 hours in the fridge)
3. Drain, rinse and pat dry with paper towels; season the pork with Kosher salt and coarse ground pepper
4. Place each piece of pork in a vacuum bag with 1–2 tablespoons of lard (preferably non-hydrogenated) and seal (I used duck fat)
5. Place the pork either in a 176°F (80°C) water bath for 8–12 hours or in 155°F (68°C) water bath for 24 hours (I did the later)
6. After cooking, the pork may be rapidly cooled in ice water  and frozen or refrigerated at below 38°F (3.3°C) for three to four weeks, or used immediately
7. Remove the pork from the bag and reserve the liquid from the bag (Place the liquid in a container in the fridge overnight, skim the fat off and reserve the jellied stock for future use)
8. Dry the surface of the meat with a paper towel; for American style pulled pork, shred and serve with your favorite barbecue sauce, and for Mexican style pulled pork, sear the surface with a blowtorch (or in a pan with just smoking vegetable or nut oil) before shredding

Q and A with Douglas Baldwin

These are definitely fall-off-the-bone tender ribs. V. and Vanja said that these were the best ribs they had ever eaten in their lives. I will say that I have made some pretty mean ribs and was actually surprised by their exuberance. But, they were both spontaneously genuine and it was apparent by watching them tear into them that these ribs were special. So special, in fact, that I have no close-up photo of the meat as it is cut into. It is unusual for both of these men to agree on something so vehemently. When I expressed my concern about the amount of plastic used to vacuum pack food for sous vide cooking, each had an immediate response to calm my social conscience. That was also truly surprising.

This is the first time I started to feel that wanting feeling… I had marvelled over what this machine was capable of the past few days reviewing it and using it; now I am feeling that wanting feeling…

I started by cutting the ribs into portions with three ribs in each, and brining the ribs in a 7% salt and 3% sugar solution for 24 hours in the fridge. Just before they were rinsed and patted dry to receive the rub, I mixed up a batch of it. I have never made a rub before. I am surprised, too. I investigated many rub recipes and then adapted the one from Douglas Baldwin according to my readings.

I started with 3 tablespoons of fresh paprika. I bring it back with me from a little independent spice store in Belgrade every year. They pack it in a paper bag for me, and by the time I am home, the bag is transluscent with the oils from the freshness of this lovely sweet paprika. I have found none other as good anywhere. I then added 3 tablespoons of ancho chile powder made by grinding dried ancho chiles in my Thermomix. I love the deep flavour of this dried chile. Garlic powder (as fresh garlic develops an off putting flavour when cooking sous vide, according to Douglas Baldwin), a small portion of cumin seeds, basil leaves, a bit of brown and white sugar, and the addition of salt and pepper rounded out the rub. The recipe follows.

With the ribs well rinsed and patted dry, I pushed each into the rub, and it coated the ribs beautifully. I was impressed.

Each was vacuum packed into individual bags. The colour of the rub intensified as the moisture from the meat dissolved it.

I was excited before they even went into the water bath. They looked really gorgeous. Beavie was cheering me on from his seat of honour on the window shelf in the kitchen.

This time I changed the position of the racks. These were put into the water at 155ºF for 24 hours. When the time was up, they were put into an ice bath of 50% ice (at least) to 50%, or less, of water to cool quickly, then placed in the fridge for dinner that evening.

They just out of the vacuum bags after being chilled and just before cooking. Beautiful colour, and the gel was so flavourful. I saved it for a sauce.

I heated the barbeque to its highest temperature (over 700ºF) with the lid down, and then seared the ribs for about 1 minutes, or less, on each side.

Before I seared the ribs, I roasted the gorgeous sweet peppers, and the asparagus from Edgar’s Farms, and the onions from Kulman’s. I was also roasting Greens Eggs & Hams red potatoes in the oven (450ºF with olive oil and garlic, turned at 10 minutes, and roasted for 20 minutes). This was truly the first nice weekend day we have had all season. I think there was one two or three months ago, but I wasn’t ready for it then. I have been very eager to grill during a weekend!

The onions received praise, too, as they were an unexpected treat on the grilled veggie platter.

The salad included Greens Eggs & Hams Greens (yes, they cost more, but are hand washed and last a long time in the fridge), Sundog Farm’s pea tendrils, toasted spiced walnuts and my garden chives with an oil and vinegar dressing. Simple, fresh, and full of crisp Spring flavours.

An incredibly simple meal to prepare, yet one that was definitely a tribute to the grilling season which has finally begun here! Let’s hope the rain happens only during the week from now on!

Dry Barbecue Rub Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 T paprika
• 3 T garlic powder
• 3 T ancho chile
• 2 T white sugar
• 2 T brown sugar
• 2 T salt
• lots of pepper
• 1 T cumn seeds
• 3 T basil

Instructions:

1. Mix all of the above together in a large bowl; store remainder in a zip lock bag, labelled and dated in the freezer

Sous Vide Barbecue Ribs

Ingredients:

• Pork Spare Ribs
• Barbecue Dry Rub

Instructions:

1. Cut the ribs into portions which will fit in the vacuum pouches ( 3–4 ribs per piece); brine ribs in a 7–10% salt, 0–3% sugar water solution (70–100 grams salt and 0–30 grams sugar per 1 liter) in the refrigerator for 12–24 hours, well sealed
2. Drain, rinse and pat dry with paper towels; generously season each rib with a barbecue spice rub; place each piece of pork in a vacuum pouch and seal
3. Place the pork either in a 176°F (80°C) water bath for 8–12 hours or in 155°F (68°C) water bath for 24 hours (i chose the lower temperature and the longer time)
4. After cooking, rapidly cool in ice water and frozen or refrigerate at below 38°F (3.3°C) for three to four weeks
5. After removing the ribs from the bag, sear the top with a blowtorch (I used the grill)
6. Serve immediately with barbecue sauce (I served the ribs as they were)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZjSxLKRfCs

Those two guys were animals. They didn't even come up for air and the rib bones were clean as a whistle. I have never seen such perfect ribs. Now, I am wondering what Valerie is going to pull out of the water bath, next! YUM!!!

• 1 kilo fatty ground pork (well, not super lean, anyway)
• 1/2 c rice
• 1/2 large onion or one whole small onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. of very fresh sweet paprika
• 1 teasp. Vegeta
• salt and pepper to taste
• one medium to large head of sour cabbage
• 1/2 rack of double smoked pork ribs, slices and separated
• a 4 inch slab of double smoked pork bacon, sliced

Procedure

1. Mix the first seven ingredients all together until well blended
2. Rinse cabbage leaves (depending upon how salty) and then separate and place in a bowl
3. Cut out tough vein from leaves and roll 2 to 4 rolls per leaf
4. Place open edge down in a dish
5. When all are rolled, use the extra leaves to cover the bottom of a large pot
6. Place rolls close together on the bottom of the pot and make sure each layer includes some ribs and some bacon slices
7. Layer rolls until 1/4 of the pot remains and then fill with water, covering all rolls
8. Place on lid, and bring to a slow rolling boil for a minimum of three hours
9. Cool, and then re-plate the rolls into casserole dishes and freeze for future use, covering with extra leaves, and ensuring each dish has the remaining juices from the pot in it (with lots of ribs and bacon bits)
10. Save some to eat, of course, with fresh baked bread. YUM!

Lip-smacking and finger-licking home food perfection.

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