roast pork belly

this recipe have been in-stock on my to-be-cooked-recipe folder waiting for the right time to be cooked.

and since i have a half of a belly slab remaining in the freezer, i decided to try this out.

i should have marinated the meat for more than six hours or even overnight instead of just 5 hours. however, it still came out good, the meat was tender. and since the meat was cooked in the oven, it was cooked using it's own oil. it's like lechon kawali baked in an oven minus the crispiness of the skin.

the dish is very simple, less cooking time, and flavorful.

i got the recipe here but i'm posting it here as well to make it readily accessible the next time i want to prepare this dish. the recipe is intended for a slab of boneless pork belly good for 4-6 persons. i just had half of the slab, just enough for the 3 of us.

ingredients:
a slab of boneless pork belly, about 1-1/2 kilos
salt
black pepper

procedure:
lay the pork belly flat on a chopping board, skin side down. cut square patterns on the meat, almost through the skin. it is important to cut deep into the so that the seasonings would penetrate all the way through.

next, get the salt and rub it into the pork, including where you have cut through. then, the pepper. crush the black peppercorns with a mortar and pestle or use the coarsest setting of your pepper mill. rub the black pepper all over the meat including those crevices between the squares. allow to marinate for several hours. you can either leave the pork outdoors, covered; or in the fridge, covered, for about 6 hours.

preheat the oven to 325°F.

place the pork, skin side down, on a roasting rack and cook in the oven for an hour to an hour and a half.

unlike lechon kawali, the pork rind (skin) won’t puff up and turn crisp. you might think you can achieve that by roasting the pork skin side up instead of down but remember that this is not parboiled pork and the meat has been cut almost through the skin. if you cook the pork skin side up, all the meat juices will drip into the pan along with the melted fat. and you really don’t want that. you want the pork to cook in its own juices so consider this dish as something not unlike lechon kawali but without the cracklings.

k, m and i liked the outcome of the roast pork. although the skin was not totally crispy, still some part of the skin was crispy a bit. and as usual, i served it with green salad on the side.