The pig is such a wonderful animal, that provides us with some delicious cuts of meat. One in particular, which is my favorite, is the pork belly. I highly recommend in marinading your cut of pork belly for at least 1 hour but no more than 24 hours. This will enhance the scrumptious flavor of the meat.
Ingredients
2 - 3 lbs pork belly
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
Marinade of your choice (I used a honey garlic marinade)
Green lettuce leaves
Pico de gallo
Sour cream
Instructions
Prepare the pork belly by scoring the skin with a very sharp blade. You want to cut lines through the skin, about half an inch apart all the way across the pork belly, without cutting too much of the fat and exposing the meat. There should be stripes across the whole belly where you have scored the skin.
Sprinkle both sides of the meat with the salt and pepper
Place the pork belly in either a large plastic container or a gallon sized plastic bag. Then pour in your marinade. Allow the meat to sit in the marinade for at least an hour to 24 hours. Try not to use a marinade with pineapple juice as it will break down the proteins in the meat.
After the meat is marinaded, place it on a large baking sheet or roasting pan, preferably with a wire rack underneath the pork. Make sure that the skin side is facing up.
Place the pork on the middle oven rack and roast at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees and roast an additional 25 minutes per pound. For a 2 1/2 pound cut of meat this is approximately an hour more. Test the pork belly by poking a skewer into it and seeing if the juices are clear or still milky white.
Increase the heat to broil and move the roast to the oven shelf under the broiler. Set a timer and broil the roast for 60 seconds, check it and broil an additional 30 seconds, but only as needed! When all of the skin has bubbled up and is puffy and crackling. If you use a marinade with sugar in it, you will notice some of the skin caramelize or darken color. This is perfectly normal, unless it starts to smell burnt.
Remove the pork belly from the oven and let the meat rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing.
Slice the meat as thin or as thick as you want. I prefer mine to be at least 1/2 inch thick.
Now start building your pork belly lettuce wraps. I recommend using pico de gallo, but if you have another preference, you are more than welcome to use that instead.
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